Gaming machine

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a gaming machine which comprises a roulette wheel causing a roulette ball to contact a guiding wall and perform a circling motion under an action of a centrifugal force, and then the roulette ball drops toward the central part when the centrifugal force weakens and is stopped at a certain pocket, a delivering device which delivers the roulette ball and causes the roulette ball to perform a circling motion in the roulette wheel, and a roulette ball holding device including a holding component which is used to hold the roulette ball removably at a delivering position, and the delivering position is a position where the roulette ball is delivered by the delivering device.

The present application claims priority from Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/335,766 which are filed on May 13, 2016, thedisclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a gaming machine which conducts a gameautomatically.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

All the time, people continually develops technology to strive forachieving the automation of the gaming machine, and the gaming machineare always operated by a human dealer in the past. For example, in thespecification of the Japan Patent for Invention No. 4676236, as one ofthe gaming machine, a roulette device is disclosed. The roulette deviceis formed to the following structure, that is, in which a roulette wheelis configured with a plurality of marks, a ball rotating on the roulettewheel is accepted in a ball storage part, and the air which iscompressed by a compressor is ejected toward a bank path to the ballstorage part such that the ball is allowed to rotate toward the bankpath with the help of the air pressure.

According to the roulette device of the structure mentioned above, inthe roulette device, all operations including the operation causing theball to rotate therein are executed automatically, and thus it isrequired for the operation causing the ball to rotate to have a highstability so as to avoid a mistake occurring when a game starts.

For this purpose, one goal of the present invention is to provide agaming machine which may perform a delivering operation of the rouletteball stably.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a gaming machine which comprises aroulette wheel causing a roulette ball to contact a guiding wall andperform a circling motion under an action of a centrifugal force, andthen the roulette ball drops toward the central part when thecentrifugal force weakens and is stopped at a certain pocket, adelivering device which delivers the roulette ball and causes theroulette ball to perform a circling motion in the roulette wheel, and aroulette ball holding device including a holding component which is usedto hold the roulette ball removably at a delivering position, and thedelivering position is a position where the roulette ball is deliveredby the delivering device.

According to the structure mentioned above, the delivering position ofthe roulette ball may be located through the holding component of theroulette ball holding device in a high precision such that a stabledelivering operation is able to be performed for the roulette ball bythe delivering device.

The gaming machine of the present invention may be configured to bethat, the holding component of the roulette ball holding device isconfigured not to contact the roulette ball which performs the circlingmotion along the guiding wall.

According to the structure mentioned above, even if the holdingcomponent is not retreated, it is able to cause the roulette ball toperform a circling motion along the guiding wall.

The holding component of the roulette ball holding device of the presentinvention comprises a holding part which is used to hold the rouletteball and a guiding part which is used to guide the roulette ball whichmoves in the center part direction of the roulette wheel to thedirection of the holding part.

According to the structure mentioned above, even in the condition thatthe roulette ball moves to the guiding part deviated from the holdingpart, the operation to cause the guiding part to hold the roulette ballis able to be performed steadily because the guiding part may cause theroulette ball to move to the holding part and hold the roulette ball.

The delivering device of the present invention may be configured tocause the compressed air to reflow along the wall surface of theroulette wheel, and the holding component may comprise a protrudingpart, and comparing with the holding part, the protruding part isconfigured at the downstream side of the circling motion direction ofthe roulette ball and protrudes toward the wall surface direction of theroulette wheel.

According to the structure mentioned above, the roulette ball is causedto perform a circling motion by the delivering device, and thus when theroulette ball leaves the holding part and performs a circling motion,the roulette ball moves toward the wall surface direction of theroulette wheel under the action of the protruding part, and therefore itis easy to cause the roulette ball to enter into the compressed airstream reflowing along the wall surface of the roulette wheel.

The roulette ball holding device in the present invention may comprisesa retreat device, and the retreat device causes the holding component toretreat from a holding position during the process of the roulette ballperforming a circling motion along the guiding wall.

According to the structure mentioned above, it may prevent that state inwhich the holding component shields the roulette ball moving on theroulette wheel out of the sight line of a player.

A gaming machine includes: a game dealer device including an armlocating a handling part in a three dimensional position, the handlingpart handling a game object, and a body supporting the arm andperforming an action for a player; a plurality of stations, a playerplaying a game at one of the stations; a plurality of camera devices,each camera device taking and recording pictures of the player; aplurality of microphone devices, each microphone device taking sounds ofthe player; and a control device configured to determine whether one ofthe microphone devices receives an input from the player, analyze facialexpressions of each player from the pictures recorded by the cameradevices at a time of the input of the one of the microphone devices,determine which station the player speaks, and control the game dealerdevice to take an action responsive to the input.

A gaming machine includes: a game dealer device including an armlocating a handling part in a three dimensional position, the handlingpart handling a game object, and a body supporting the arm andperforming an action for a player; a plurality of stations, a playerplaying a game at one of the stations; a camera device taking andrecording pictures of the plurality of stations; and a control deviceconfigured to analyze a motion of a person from the pictures recorded bythe camera device, and control the game dealer device to take an actionresponsive a result of the analysis.

A gaming machine includes: a game dealer device including an armlocating a handling part in a three dimensional position, the handlingpart handling a game object, and a body supporting the arm andperforming an action for a player; a gaming area for conducting a game;a camera device taking and recording pictures of the gaming area; and acontrol device configured to determine whether a foreign object entersinto the gaming area from the pictures taken by the camera device, andcontrol the game dealer device to take an action responsive the entry ofthe foreign object when it is determined that the foreign object entersinto the gaming area.

A game dealer device includes: an arm locating a handling part in athree dimensional position, the handling part handling a game object; abody supporting the arm and performing an action for a player; a memorystoring a three-dimensional movement pattern of the arm and the body;and a control device configured to compare a movement of the arm and thebody with the movement pattern; and determine whether the arm and thebody conduct malfunction from the comparing.

A game dealer device includes: an arm locating a handling part in athree dimensional position, the handling part handling a game object;and a body supporting the arm and performing an action for a player,wherein the body includes a face including a translucent resin, and theface includes a luminant emitting different color lights for differentsituations.

A roulette game device includes: a roulette table including a spinningrail and a plurality of stop places, wherein a roulette ball spins alongthe spinning rail and then gets down to stop one of the stop places; anda ball support disposed at the roulette table near the spinning rail,the ball support holding the roulette ball at a strike position forspinning.

As mentioned above, the present invention is able to perform adelivering operation for the roulette ball stably.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention willappear more fully from the following description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an illustrative view representing the outline of a gamingmachine.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an utterance process routine.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart when the utterance process routine isperformed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an overlooking process routine.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative view representing a relationship between anemotion type and an emotion action.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a safety process routine.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a gaming machine.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a robotic dealer.

FIG. 9 is an illustrative view representing a shooting state of a gamingmachine.

FIG. 10 is a main enlarged view of a gaming machine.

FIG. 11 is an illustrative view representing an operation state of aroulette ball holding device.

FIG. 12 is an illustrative view representing an operation state of aroulette ball holding device.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a roulette ball holding device.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a roulette ball holding device.

FIG. 15 is an illustrative view representing a holding process of aroulette ball in a roulette ball holding device.

FIG. 16 is a main cross-section view of a roulette device.

FIG. 17 is an illustrative view representing a holding process of aroulette ball in a roulette ball holding device.

FIG. 18 is an illustrative view representing a separating process of aroulette ball in a roulette ball holding device.

FIG. 19 is an illustrative view representing an operation state of aroulette ball in a roulette ball holding device.

FIG. 20 is an illustrative view representing the states of an alarmboundary line and a stop boundary line.

FIG. 21 is an illustrative view representing the outline of a gamingmachine.

FIG. 22 is an illustrative view representing a display state of a managedevice.

FIG. 23A is an illustrative view representing a condition holding handleof a gaming machine.

FIG. 23B is an illustrative view representing a conversation handle of agaming machine.

FIG. 23C is an illustrative view representing an action handle of agaming machine.

FIG. 24 is an illustrative view representing the states of an alarmboundary line and a stop boundary line.

FIG. 25 is an illustrative view representing an operation path of arobotic dealer.

FIG. 26 is an illustrative view representing an expression lightedregion of a face of a robotic dealer.

FIG. 27 is an illustrative view representing a relationship between anemotion and an expression.

FIG. 28 is a schematic perspective view of a gaming machine according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29 is an expanded partial view of the gaming machine shown in FIG.28.

FIG. 30 is a schematic perspective view of a right hand of a gamingmachine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 31 is a schematic perspective view of a left hand of a gamingmachine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 32 is a schematic front view of the right hand of a gaming machineaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 33 is a schematic rear view of the right hand of a gaming machineaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 34 is a schematic sectional view of an object holder on the lefthand of a gaming machine according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 35 illustrates facial expressions of a game dealer device accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 36 is a schematic block diagram of a gaming machine according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 37 is a schematic perspective view of a gaming machine according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 38 is a schematic view of an information acquiring unit accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 39 is a picture taken by an overview camera unit according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 40 is a schematic view of an information acquiring unit accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 41 is a picture taken by an player camera unit according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 42 is a flow diagram illustrating an operation of the gamingmachine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 43 is a flow diagram illustrating an partial operation of thegaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 44 shows a screen of a monitor of the gaming machine according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 45 is a flow diagram illustrating an partial operation of thegaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 46 is a flow diagram illustrating an partial operation of thegaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The First Embodiment

The first embodiment of the present invention will be illustratedaccording to the drawings as follows.

(Gaming Machine 1: Outline)

As shown in FIG. 1, the gaming machine 1 comprises an utterancerecognition device 5, a safety camera recognition device 6, anoverlooking camera recognition device 7, CAIWA server 8, and a managedevice 9. In addition, the gaming machine 1 comprises a robotic dealer 2(a dealer replacement device), which simulates a human dealer through arobot, a roulette device 3 conducting a roulette game, and threeterminal device 4A-4C (FIG. 7), which are configured in the roulettedevice 3.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the gaming machine 1 may beconfigured to be that two terminal device are multi-user structure andone terminal device is a single user structure. In addition, the gamingmachine 1 may also conduct a game such as a baccarat game, a card gameand so on in addition to the roulette game.

(Gaming Machine 1: Utterance Recognition Device 5)

The utterance recognition device 5 has three player analyzing device 5A,5B and 5C, which are used to acquire and analyze a voice of an utteranceof a player (a person) and output a player information such as ananalysis result etc. The player analyzing device 5A, 5B and 5C areconfigured corresponding to the various terminal device 4A-4C of thegaming machine 1 respectively.

The various player analyzing device 5A, 5B, and 5C have a playerinformation acquiring device 51, which is used to acquire a dynamicimage including corners of the mouth of a player (a person) therein anda voice of an utterance of a player. In addition, the dynamic imageincluding corners of the mouth of a player (a person) therein may be avideo including a whole face of a player and may be also a video of apartial region of a face of a player.

The player information acquiring device 51 comprises two types of cameradevices 511 and 512, which are used to take the dynamic images includingcorners of the mouth of a player therein, and a microphone device 513,which is used to acquire a voice of an utterance of a player. One typeof the camera device 511 is a high definition video camera. The othertype of the camera device 512 is an infrared camera. In addition, theplayer information acquiring device 51 may comprise one type of cameradevice. In addition, the player information acquiring device 51 mayapply the “RealSense” (registered trademark) produced by the IntelCorporation. In the condition that the player information acquiringdevice 51 is composed of the “RealSense”, the various processes such asa process of observing as a human eye, a process of checking a depth,and a process of tracking a motion of a player are able to be performedby three cameras (a 1080p HD camera, an infrared camera, and an infraredlaser projector) cooperating.

In addition, various player analyzing device 5A, 5B and 5C have a playercamera unit 52 as an information processing unit. The player camera unit52 is connected with the player information acquiring device 51 and getsa dynamic image and a voice signal of a player acquired through theplayer information acquiring device 51. The player camera unit 52performs an image analysis according to the dynamic image, and thereforean emotion determination process, a gender determination process, aprocess determining whether there is a conversation or not, and anapplication video formation process, and a sending process of ananalysis result information and a dynamic image information obtained bythe processes mentioned above is performed. Besides, the player cameraunit 52 performs a voice recognition process and a string conversionprocess according to a voice and performs a sending process for thevoice information obtained by the processes mentioned above.

In addition, the player analyzing device 5A, 5B and 5C are connectedwith a main unit 101 as an information processing unit via a hub 102.The main unit 101 is able to perform an utterance recognition processsuch that it may be served as an utterance recognition control device.The utterance recognition process is a process that a player who uttersis determined from a plurality of players according to motions ofcorners of the mouth of various player captured by the camera devices511 and 512 when a voice is acquired by the microphone device 513.

In addition, a process determining the player may be performed justafter the voice is acquired by the microphone device 513 according tothe dynamic images obtained from the camera devices 511 and 512,however, it is performed preferably according to the dynamic image of ashooting time when the voice is acquired by the microphone device 513 soas to eliminate a time difference between an acquiring time of the voiceand a capturing time of the dynamic image. Wherein the “shooting time”may be an elapsed time from a certain time such as a reset time, apower-on time and so on, and it may be also the current time.

Specifically, it is preferably, that the main unit 101 is configured tohave a dynamic image memory device, which is used to store the dynamicimages captured by the camera devices 511 and 512 and the shooting timesof the dynamic images, read out a dynamic image including a shootingtime when acquiring a voice from the dynamic image memory device, anddetermine a person who utters with the dynamic image of the shootingtime. Therefore, even if there is such a time difference that theshooting time of the dynamic image is earlier than the acquiring time ofthe voice, the main unit 101 is able to determine the person who uttersin a more highly reliable manner with the dynamic image of the shootingtime when acquiring the voice. In addition, the dynamic image memorydevice may be disposed either inside or outside of the main unit 101.

In addition, the main unit 101 is able to perform a control to make arobotic dealer 2 to conduct an operation corresponding to the utterancecontents of the player who is determined. Therefore, the main unit 101is able to make the robotic dealer 2 to perform a correct effectoperation for a player who utters in a highly reliable manner.

(Gaming Machine 1: Utterance Recognition Device 5: Operation)

The main unit 101 performs an utterance process routine of FIG. 2. Theutterance process routine is configured to determine a player who uttersfrom a plurality of players (an utterance recognition process), analyzethe conversation contents of the player who is determined, and take anaction responsive to an analysis result.

In this regard, various player analyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C acquirean dynamic image information, an elapsed time, and a shooting timerepresenting a filming moment in various terminal devices 4A-4C, andsends a dynamic image information with the shooting time to the mainunit 101. In addition, in the condition that a player conducts a gamethrough the terminal devices 4A-4C, the camera devices 511 and 512 takephotos of a portion or entirety of a face including the corners of mouthof a player, and on the other hand, in the condition that a player doesnot conduct a game, the camera device 511 and 512 take pictures of abackground video of the terminal devices 4A-4C. In addition, variousplayer analyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C acquire the voice of a player whoconducts a game through the terminal devices 4A-4C by means of themicrophone device 513, and send a voice information to the main unit101, and the voice information is, for example, a data obtained byforming a text from the voice. Besides, these dynamic image informationand voice information are continually sent during running the gamingmachine 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, as mentioned above, the dynamic image informationand the voice information are input to the main unit 101 through theplayer analyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C, and the main unit 101 obtainsthe dynamic image information and the shooting time and stores thedynamic image information and the shooting time (S1).

Next, the main unit 101 receives the voice information from the playeranalyzing device 5A, 5B and 5C (S2), and judges whether the voiceinformation is input or not (S3). If various player analyzing devices5A, 5B and 5C each does not input a voice information to it (S3: NO),perform S3 again, and keep stand by before the voice information isinput.

On the other hand, if more than one of the player analyzing device 5A,5B and 5C inputs the voice information to it (S3: YES), a terminaldevice is determined according to the player information acquiringdevice 51 to which the voice information is input (S4), and a dynamicimage information in the terminal device which is determined is read out(S5). Then, a dynamic image information including a shooting time whichis consistent with the input time of the voice information is replayed(S6), and it is determined that whether the corners of mouth of a playermove or not at a time which is consistent with the shooting time (S7).In addition, the “operation of the corners of mouth” may be determinedby observing that whether the corners of mouth wriggle continually ornot during a certain period from the moment of an utterance. If thecorners of mouth do not wriggle (S7: NO), return to S3. On the otherhand, if the corners of mouth wriggle (S7: YES), it is determined that aplayer utters.

For example, as shown in “a first determining period” in FIG. 3, in thecondition that the voice information is input by two player analyzingdevices 5A and 5C, the dynamic image information in the various playeranalyzing devices 5A and 5C is read out, and it is determined thatwhether the corners of mouth wriggle or not at a shooting time which isconsistent with the input time of the information. Wherein, a video ofthe motion of the corners of mouth presents in the dynamic imageinformation of the player analyzing device 5A. On the other hand, asshown in a background video and a video of a closed state of the cornersof mouth, a video of the motion of the corners of mouth does not presentin the dynamic image information of the player analyzing device 5C.Therefore, it is determined that the player 1 who conducts a gamethrough the terminal device 4A corresponding to the player analyzingdevice 5A is uttering. In addition, in the first determining period ofthe player 1 being uttering, even if the other player 2 is uttering, theutterance of the player 2 may be not accepted.

In addition, as shown in “a second determining period”, in the conditionthat the voice information is input by the player analyzing devices 5A,the dynamic image information in the player analyzing devices 5A is readout, and it is determined that whether the corners of mouth wriggle ornot at a shooting time which is consistent with the input time of thevoice information. Wherein, a video of the motion of the corners ofmouth presents in the dynamic image information of the player analyzingdevice 5A. Therefore, it is determined that the player 1 who conducts agame through the terminal device 4A corresponding to the playeranalyzing device 5A is not uttering.

In addition, as shown in “a third determining period”, in the conditionthat the voice information is input by the player analyzing devices 5C,the dynamic image information in the player analyzing devices 5C is readout, and it is determined that whether the corners of mouth wriggle ornot at a shooting time which is consistent with the input time of thevoice information. Wherein, a video of the motion of the corners ofmouth presents in the dynamic image information of the player analyzingdevice 5C. Therefore, it is determined that the player 3 who conducts agame through the terminal device 4C corresponding to the playeranalyzing device 5C is uttering.

As mentioned above, if the utterance recognition device 5 is carried inthe gaming machine 1, even if the gaming machine 1 is configured in anoisy environment, a player who utters may be determined in a highlyreliable manner.

As shown in FIG. 2, thereafter, it is determined that whether the playerwho is determined (terminal device) ends the utterance thereof (S8). The“utterance ends” refers to that if there is no voice input in a certainperiod such as 0.5 second or 1 second, it is determined that theutterance ended. If the utterance does not end (S8: NO), it isdetermined whether the utterance ended or not by re-performing S8 overand over again. On the other hand, if the utterance ended (S8: YES), atext analyzing process is performed according to a text data obtained byforming a text from the utterance contents (S9). Thereafter, a responseprocess such as an effect operation corresponding to a text analysisresult is performed (S10). Therefore, the utterance recognition device 5may determine the player who utters in a highly reliable manner, andthus a high reliability of the effect operation may be achieved. As aresult, the present embodiment is suitable to the gaming machine 1without a dealer, and such gaming machine 1 requires a player to conductan effect operation in a highly reliable manner.

(Gaming Machine 1: Utterance Recognition Device 5: Modification)

In the utterance recognition device 5 of the present embodiment, theplayer information acquiring device 51 comprises the camera devices 511and 512 which are set to take photos for various players respectively,and the microphone device 513 which is set to acquire the voice of theutterance of various players respectively. That is to say, the playerinformation acquiring device 51 is configured to be that the players areset to correspond to the camera devices 511 and 512 by one to one, andthe player who utters may be determined in a highly reliable manner bysetting a one to one correspondence relationship between the players andthe microphone devices 513, however, the present invention is notlimited thereto.

For example, it may be also set to be that the player informationacquiring device 51 takes photos for a plurality of players by more thanone camera devices 511 and 512, and the voice of the plurality ofplayers is acquired by more than one microphone devices 513. In thiscondition, the player who utters may be also determined from theplurality of players by determining that whether the corners of mouth ofa player performs an operation or not, according to the dynamic imageinformation of the shooting time when the voice is acquired.

In addition, the utterance recognition device 5 of the presentembodiment may be also configured to comprise a camera device which isused to take a dynamic image including the corners of mouth of a player,a microphone device which is used to acquire a voice of an utterance ofa player, and a control device which is used to determine whether theplayer utters or not according to an action of the corners of mouthcaptured by the camera device after the voice is acquired by themicrophone device. Based on the above structure, it is determinedwhether a person utters or not according to the voice acquired by themicrophone device and the motion of corners of mouth captured by thecamera device, and thus it is determined whether a person utters or notin a highly reliable manner even if in a situation that the microphonedevice easily acquires other voice in addition to that of the person.

(Gaming Machine 1: Overlooking Camera Recognition Device 5)

The gaming machine 1 comprises two types of camera devices 711 and 712which are used to take dynamic images of the peripheral area includingthe terminal devices 4A-4C, and the main unit 101 (a control device)which is used to analyze an operation of a person in the peripheral areaaccording to the dynamic images of the peripheral area taken by thecamera devices 711 and 712, and perform a control to cause the roboticdealer 2 to conduct an operation corresponding to the analysis result.Therefore, in the gaming machine 1, it is also able to cause the roboticdealer 2 to perform various operations corresponding to the analysisresult directed to the person in the peripheral area of the gamingmachine 1 including the terminal devices 4A-4C, in addition to theplayer who conducts a game through the terminal devices 4A-4C, andtherefore a game environment of the gaming machine 1 is able to getclose to a environment when a human dealer performs an operation.

Wherein, the “peripheral area including the terminal devices 4A-4C”refers to, as shown in FIG. 7, an area including the back of theterminal devices 4A-4C which is observed through the overlookinginformation acquiring device 71. The “peripheral area” may be anentirety or a portion of the filming range set by the angle of view ofthe camera devices 711 and 712. The “person in the peripheral area” is aperson taken by the camera devices 711 and 712, which includes a playerwho conducts a game through the terminal devices 4A-4C and the person inaddition to the player. As a person in addition to the player, theexample thereof may be a customer who is watching a roulette game, aperson crossing the peripheral area of the back side of the terminaldevices 4A-4C, a person who is next to the gaming machine 1, a personwho leaves from the gaming machine 1 and so on.

The “action of a person” includes an action pattern of a part of a humanbody such as a head, a wrist, a shoulder, a body and so on, and anaction pattern of an entirety of a human body. As an action pattern of apart of a human body, the example thereof may be an action that a headand a wrist move from side to side, an action that a wrist move up anddown, an action that an upper body leans backward and so on. As anaction pattern of an entirety of a human body, the example thereof maybe an action of standing, an action of leaving, an action of seating, anaction of crossing and so on. The “action analysis” refers to that theanalysis result of the action that a head and a wrist move side to sideand the action of standing etc. by analyzing the action pattern of apart or an entirety of a human body.

In addition, if the analysis result is an emotion action associated toan emotion, the main unit 101 may acquire an emotion corresponding tothe emotion action as the emotion of a person at the current moment, andcause the robotic dealer 2 to perform an action responsive to theemotion.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative view of a data table in which an emotioncorresponds to an emotion action each other. Specifically, an emotionaction of “disgust” refers to an action of a face and turning a face ora body back toward each other. An emotion action of “fear” refers to anaction of a head and a body receding, an action of a body rigidity, anaction of escaping, an action of a pitch of a voice rising, an action ofsuddenly taking a deep breath and so on. An emotion action of “anger”refers to an action of a head and chin bending forward, an action ofmuscle tension of a whole body, an action of an intimidating voice, arough voice, a loud voice and so on.

An emotion action of “happiness” refers to an action of sounds excitingand an action of close to another person. An emotion action of “sadness”refers to an action of a head and a line of sight drooping, an action ofnutation, an action of a sound lowering, an action of being a little bitquiet and so on. An emotion action of “contempt” refers to an action ofhypsokinesis of a head as like to look the tip of nose of oneself and anaction of the head unidirectionally inclining toward the left or rightunder the state mentioned above. An emotion action of “astonishment”refers to an action of a shoulder lifting, an action of taking a deepbreath and so on.

Besides, the main unit 101 may be configured to acquire a microexpression of a player and other persons according to a video dynamicimage captured by the camera devices 711 and 712 of the overlookinginformation acquiring device 71 and a video dynamic image captured bythe camera devices 511 and 512 of the player information acquiringdevice 51, distinguish the emotion thereof with the micro expression,and cause the robotic dealer 2 to take an action responsive to theemotion.

Wherein the “micro expression” refers to an expression which changesinstantaneously in a certain time, for example 0.25 seconds, in apartial area of face of a person according to the different types ofemotion. The main unit 101 is configured to analyze the micro expressionthereof according to the video dynamic image (a dynamic image obtainedby taking photos for a person) and distinguish the type of the emotion,and a face of a person is divided into a plurality of areas, aninstantaneous change in various areas is checked, and the type of theemotion corresponding to the condition that is consistent with acombination of the change states is determined.

The main unit 101 stores a response data corresponding to the abovevarious action patterns. The response data is a change of responsefactors such as a voice, an effect light, an operation in the roboticdealer 2 and a combination of the response factors. The “change ofresponse factors” refers to various changes in the “voice”, for example,a high pitch, a low pitch, a male voice, a female voice, a loud voice, alow voice and so on. The “effect light” refers to a change of anilluminant color, flicker and so on. The “operation” refers tomechanical changes that a part such as a left arm 22, a right arm 21, ahead 24 shakes front and back or right and left, or moving quickly orslowly.

The response data is illustrated specifically in the below. For example,a response data corresponding to an analysis result of a person beingclose to the gaming machine 1 is a data to perform the following seriesof operations, that is to say, the robotic dealer 2 moves the head 24and the body 23 thereof facing to the person close to the gaming machine1, utters loudly to arouse the person to take part in a game, and waveswith the right arm 21 thereof, and so on. A response data correspondingto an analysis result of a player leaving from the terminal devices4A-4C is a data to perform the following series of operations, that isto say, the robotic dealer 2 moves its body 23 facing to the player whois to leave, lower its head and utters to express its thanks. A responsedata corresponding to an analysis result of a player making an emotionaction of “enjoyment” is a data to perform the following series ofoperations, that is to say, the robotic dealer 2 utters to bless facingto the player.

The camera devices 711 and 712 taking dynamic images for the peripheralarea are configured to be able to take pictures for the entirety of theroulette device 3 and the background of the terminal devices 4A-4C. Onetype of the camera device 711 is a high definition video camera. Theother type of the camera device 712 is an infrared camera. In addition,the camera devices 711 and 712 may be also any type of camera device.The camera devices 711 and 712 are configured in the overlookinginformation acquiring device 71. The overlooking information acquiringdevice 71 may also apply the “RealSense” (registered trademark) producedby the Intel Corporation as well as the player information acquiringdevice 51. In the condition that the overlooking information acquiringdevice 71 is composed of the “RealSense”, the various processes such asa process of observing as a human eye, a process of checking a depth,and a process of tracking an action of a player are able to be performedby three cameras (a 1080p HD camera, an infrared camera, and an infraredlaser projector) cooperating.

The overlooking information acquiring device 71 is connected with anoverlooking camera unit 72. An overlooking camera recognition device 7is composed of the overlooking information acquiring device 71 and theoverlooking camera unit 72. The overlooking camera unit 72 is configuredto perform a read-in process of a camera video, an image analyzingprocess, an analyzing process of the number of persons, a location of aperson, and an action, a get-in process of a video of an application anda video distributing process according to the video dynamic images fromthe camera devices 711 and 712. In addition, these processes may beperformed by one of the overlooking camera unit 72 and the main unit101.

Wherein, the “get-in process of a video of an application” refers toforming an application video according to the dynamic images of theperipheral area by associating a personage as an analysis object with ananalysis result obtained by analyzing an action of the personage, anddistributing the video, and wherein in the application video, a text ofthe analysis result is displayed near the personage. The gaming machine1 is easily able to monitor the personage presented in the peripheralarea by displaying the application video which is distributed into amanage device (a monitor screen).

(Gaming Machine 1: Overlooking Camera Recognition Device 5: Operation)

Next, the following operations are illustrated, that are, the main unit101 performs an overlooking process routine as shown in FIG. 4, analyzesthe action of the personage presented in the peripheral area of thegaming machine 1 thereby according to the video dynamic images from theoverlooking camera recognition device 7, and causes the robotic dealer 2to perform an operation corresponding to the analysis result.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the main unit 101 performs the overlookingprocess routine, a dynamic image information including the video dynamicimage from the overlooking camera recognition device 7 therein isacquired (S21). The whole personages presented in the predeterminedperipheral area are extracted according to the dynamic image information(S22).

Thereafter, the character of the personages who are extracted isanalyzed (S23). As the “character of the personages”, the examplethereof may be the gender, the age, the player, the personages inaddition to the player, and so on. In addition, it is able to determinewhether the personage who is extracted is the player or not according towhether the location of the personage in the image is consistent withthe location of the personage who operates the terminal devices 4A-4C.In addition, in the condition that the personage who is extracted is theplayer, a double determination may be performed by the player analyzingdevices 5A, 5B and 5C of the utterance recognition device 5 according towhether the face of the personage is captured or not. In the conditionthat the double determination is performed for the player through theoverlooking camera recognition device 7 and the player analyzing devices5A, 5B and 5C, it is able to distinguish the player and other personagesin addition to the player in a highly accurate manner. In addition, thecharacter of the player may be analyzed by the player analyzing devices5A, 5B and 5C in a highly accurate manner. Then, the personage who isextracted as mentioned above and the analysis result thereof aredisplayed in a manage device 9 (S24).

Next, aiming at the dynamic image information of the overlooking camerarecognition device 7, a variation of a certain time difference iscalculated (S26). Thereafter, it is determined whether a unit game endsor not (S26). Wherein, as shown in FIG. 10, the “unit game” is one gamewhich is from a roulette ball 33 in a roulette wheel 31 beginning tomove to the roulette ball 33 being taken into a pocket 321 and obtaininga game result.

If the unit game does not end (S26: NO), the robotic dealer 2 performsan operation responsive to the action of the whole personages or aportion of personages during the game. In addition, it is preferablythat, the main unit 101 gives a preferred order for the personage who isextracted in advance and causes the robotic dealer 2 to perform anoperation responsive to a portion personages with a higher preferredorder according to the game conducting condition and the number of thepersonages. Therefore, the game in which the robotic dealer 2 takes partconducts smoothly.

The whole personages with variations thereof more than a predeterminedvalue are extracted according to the video dynamic image from the cameradevices 711 and 712 (S27). The action of the personages who areextracted is analyzed (S28). Aiming at various personages who areextracted, a response operation corresponding to the action thereof isperformed (S29). Therefore, for example, when the personage traversesfrom the gaming machine, in order to attract the attention of thepersonages as the pedestrian to the gaming machine 1, the robotic dealer2 performs the following actions, for example, waving the right arm 21,uttering to introduce a roulette game, and so on.

In addition, in the condition that the unit game ended (S26: YES),aiming at the emotion of the whole players or a portion of the playerswho just ended a game, the robotic dealer 2 performs a responseoperation. In addition, it is preferably that, the main unit 101 gives apreferred order to the emotion of the player, and causes the roboticdealer 2 to perform the response operation one by one from the playershowing an emotion with a higher preferred order as the preferred order.

The whole players with variations thereof more than a predeterminedvalue are extracted according to the video dynamic image from the cameradevices 711 and 712 of the overlooking information acquiring device 71and the camera devices 511 and 512 of the player information acquiringdevices 51 (S30). An emotion of a player is analyzed according to a datatable, and wherein, in the data table, the variation is regarded as theemotion action, and the emotion corresponds to the emotion action eachother in FIG. 5 (S31). In addition, the emotion thereof may be alsoanalyzed with a micro expression. Aiming at various players who areextracted, a response operation corresponding to the emotion thereof isperformed (S32). Therefore, for example, when a player shows an emotionof “enjoyment”, the robotic dealer 2 performs the following actionsfacing to the player, for example, moving the body 23, uttering tobless, and so on.

(Gaming Machine 1: Safety Camera Recognition Device 5)

As shown in FIG. 1, the gaming machine 1 comprises the robotic dealer 2(a dealer replacement device) which is used to perform variousoperations including a handling operation of a gaming equipment used ina game, a safety information acquiring device 61 including two types ofcamera devices 611 and 612 which take the dynamic images for a game areafor conducting a game, and the main unit 101 (the control device)determining whether there is an anomaly in the game area according tothe dynamic images taken by the camera device 611 and 612 and performinga control to cause the robotic dealer 2 to conduct an operationcorresponding to the anomaly mentioned above. Therefore, the gamingmachine 1 is able to cause the game environment approaching theenvironment operated by a human dealer by causing the robotic dealer 2to perform the operation corresponding to the anomaly.

Wherein, the “gaming equipment” is a tool used by a game directly orindirectly. The gaming equipment used by the game directly is acomponent which determines a game result, which is the roulette ball 33in the roulette game and a card in a card game, and a dice in a dicegame. As a gaming equipment used indirectly, it is a tool facilitatingto conduct a game, for example, a card shoe for accepting a card, a toolfor recycling a dice, and so on.

The “game area” as shown in FIG. 20 has a stop boundary area 31A whichmay conducts a game directly. The stop boundary area 31A isapproximately consistent with the area of the internal circumference ofthe roulette wheel 31. When there is an anomaly in the stop boundaryarea 31A, the robotic dealer 2 performs an operation corresponding tothe anomaly in the stop boundary area and stops the game. Wherein, the“anomaly in the stop boundary area 31A” represents a state that aforeign object 110 in addition to the gaming equipment intrudes into thestop boundary area 31A, for example, an action that a player or acustomer puts the foreign object 110 such as a cigarette and a metalinto the roulette wheel 31, an action that a player or a customertouches a rotating wheel 32 with an instrument such as a finger or astick, and so on. A change of the game result coming into an anomaly maybe prevented through answering the anomaly occurred in the stop boundaryarea 31A, and the robotic dealer 2 is able to inform the player or thecustomer of an information suspending the game because of the occurrenceof the anomaly.

In addition, the “game area” has an alarm boundary area 31B, and theinternal circumference of the alarm boundary area 31B comprises the stopboundary area 31A, such that the peripheral area of the roulette wheel31 is surrounded. That is to say, the “game area” has the stop boundaryarea 31A which is used to stop a game and the alarm boundary area 31Bwhich is used to warn, and the alarm boundary area is configured to stopat the peripheral side of the stop boundary area 31A. In addition, it ispreferably that, the alarm boundary area 31B includes the playeranalyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C. Therefore, it may also warn, forexample, in an abnormal condition such as the foreign object 110crashing the player analyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C.

When there is an anomaly in the alarm boundary area 31B, the roboticdealer 2 performs an operation corresponding to the anomaly in the alarmboundary area. The anomaly in the alarm boundary area 31B is differentfrom that of the stop boundary area 31A, and the game continue. Wherein,the “anomaly in the alarm boundary area 31B” represents a state that aforeign object 110 in addition to the gaming equipment intrudes into thealarm boundary area 31B, for example, an action that a player or acustomer puts the foreign object 110 such as a cigarette and a metalclose to the roulette wheel 31, an action that a player or a customerputs an instrument such as a finger or a stick close to the roulettewheel 31, and so on. The robotic dealer 2 is able to prevent theoccurrence of a situation that the game suspends because of theoccurrence of the anomaly, by answering to the anomaly occurred in thealarm boundary area 31B.

In addition, the robotic dealer 2 may also change the response operationaccording to the time of duration of the anomaly in the alarm boundaryarea 31B. That is to say, as the time of duration of the anomaly getlong, the response operation of the robotic dealer 2 may be notablyhighlighted to the player and the customer by enlarging the gesture ofthe robotic dealer 2 or the voice of the alarm.

The “operation corresponding to the anomaly” refers to an operationinforming the player and the customer of the information that the gamewill suspend because of the occurrence of the anomaly, for example, therobotic dealer 2 pointing to the foreign object 110 with a hand, andthen the two arms 21 and 22 swinging horizontally on the roulette wheel31, in the condition that the anomaly occurs in the stop boundary area31A.

In the condition that the anomaly occurs in the alarm boundary area 31B,the operation which is performed is an operation to prevent the gamesuspending because of the anomaly, for example, an operation of therobotic dealer 2 stopping the foreign object intruding. That is to say,if the contents of the anomaly represent the alarm boundary area 31Bbeing intruded by the foreign object 110, a control is performed tocause the robotic dealer 2 to perform an operation to prevent theforeign object intruding. Therefore, the gaming machine 110 is able toprevent the game suspending because of the invasion of the foreignobject 110 with the aid of the robotic dealer 2.

In this regard, the robotic dealer 2 comprises the arms 21 and 22 whichare used to move a handling part in a 3D space and locate them at andposition in the 3D space, and the handling part is used to handle thegaming equipment, and the body 23 which is used to support the arms 21and 22. The main unit 101 performs a control to cause the robotic dealer2 to perform an operation to prevent the foreign object 110 intrudingwith at least one of the arms 21 and 22. Therefore, the operation of therobotic dealer 2 gets close to the operation of a human dealer.

The safety information acquiring device 61 comprising the camera devices611 and 612 is configured to at least take pictures for the roulettewheel 31. In addition, the safety information acquiring device 61 isfurther configured to take pictures for the roulette device 3 overall.As shown in FIG. 1, one type of the camera device 611 in the safetyinformation acquiring device 61 is a high definition video camera. Theother type of the camera device 612 is an infrared camera. In addition,the camera devices 611 and 612 may be also any type of camera device.The safety information acquiring device 61 may also apply the“RealSense” (registered trademark) produced by the Intel Corporation aswell as the player information acquiring device 51. In the conditionthat the safety information acquiring device 61 is composed of the“RealSense”, the various processes such as a process of observing as ahuman eye, a process of checking a depth, and a process of tracking anaction of a player are able to be performed by three cameras (a 1080p HDcamera, an infrared camera, and an infrared laser projector)cooperating.

The safety information acquiring device 61 is connected with a roulettestate camera unit 72. A safety camera recognition device 7 is composedof the safety information acquiring device 61 and the roulette statecamera unit 72. The roulette state camera unit 72 is configured toperform a read-in process of a camera video and an image analyzingprocess according to the video dynamic images from the camera devices611 and 612. In addition, these processes may be performed by one of theroulette state camera unit 72 and the main unit 101.

(Gaming Machine 1: Safety Camera Recognition Device 5: Operation)

Next, the following operations are illustrated, that are, the main unit101 performs an safety process routine as shown in FIG. 6, determineswhether the anomaly occurs within the roulette wheel 31 and in theperipheral area of the roulette wheel 31 thereby according to the videodynamic images from the safety camera recognition device 6, and causesthe robotic dealer 2 to perform an operation corresponding to theanomaly determining result.

As shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 20, when the main unit 101 performs thesafety process routine, the dynamic image information from the safetyinformation acquiring device 61 is acquired, and the dynamic imageinformation includes a video dynamic image therein (S41). Then, in avideo memory which is not shown, the stop boundary area 31A and thealarm boundary area 31B are merged into the video dynamic image (S42).In addition, the video dynamic image is updated real time.

Next, it is determined whether the foreign object 110 intrudes into thealarm boundary area 31B according to the merged video of the videomemory. If there is no foreign object 110 intruding (S43: NO), S43 isre-performed, and the invasion of the foreign object 110 is monitored.

If there is foreign object 110 intruding (S43: YES), an alarm process ofthe robotic dealer 2 is performed (S44). For example, in FIG. 20, in thecondition that the foreign object 110 composed of a cigarette or a wristintrudes into the alarm boundary area 31B, the robotic dealer 2 performsan operation extending the right arm 21 toward the direction of theforeign object 110 to prevent the foreign object 110 intruding.

At this moment, it is preferably that, the manner of the alarm processchanges as the retention time of the foreign object 110 in the alarmboundary area 31B and the distance of invasion. For example, it changesas the following manner, that is, the movement range of the roboticdealer 2 to prevent the invasion is enlarged, or combines a plurality ofmovement factors (forward and backward directions, left and rightdirections, etc.), or causes the movement to speed up, and so on,according to the retention time and the distance of invasion.

In addition, as changes of the manner corresponding to the retentiontime and the distance of invasion, the example thereof may be adding themovements of the body 23 and the head 24 into the movements of the arms21 and 22. Furthermore, as changes corresponding to the retention timeand the distance of invasion, the example thereof may be also adding analarming voice, or the voice gathering volume, or the interval and thespeed of the voice accelerating, and so on. In addition, it may be alsothat the arms 21 and 22 of the robotic dealer 2 comprise an illuminantdevice, and an alarm is sent through the illuminant device giving outlight while the alarm action is performed by the arms 21 and 22.

Next, it is determined whether the foreign object 110 intrudes into thestop boundary area 31A (S45). If there is no foreign object 110intruding (S45: NO), S43 is re-performed, and it is monitored whetherthe situation that the foreign object 110 intrude into the stop boundaryarea 31A is eliminated or not.

On the other hand, if there is foreign object 110 intruding into thestop boundary area 31A (S45: YES), a suspending process is performed forthe roulette game (S46) in which the roulette game is suspended, and therobotic dealer 2 makes an action for informing of suspending the game.Then, the robotic dealer 2 explains that the game is suspended as theinfluence of the foreign object 110 through a voice (S47).

Thereafter, it is determined whether the foreign object 110 in the alarmboundary area 31B and the stop boundary area 31A is faded away by themeasure such as remove (S48). If the foreign object 110 does notdisappear (S48: NO), S48 is re-performed, and the suspending state ofthe game continues until the foreign object 110 is removed. If theforeign object 110 disappeared (S48: YES), the game restarts (S49), isre-conducted from S43, and monitors the alarm boundary area 31.

(Gaming Machine 1: A Mechanical Structure)

As shown in FIG. 7, the gaming machine 1 comprises the robotic dealer 2,the roulette device 3 which is configured before the robotic dealer 2,and three terminal devices 4A-4C which are configured around theroulette device 3.

(Gaming Machine 1: The Mechanical Structure: The Robotic Dealer 2)

The robotic dealer 2 is configured to be able to replace a dealer toperform a portion or an entirety of actions of the roulette game as likethe actions handling the roulette ball 33 (see the FIG. 10) used in theroulette game. That is to say, the robotic dealer 2 is configured toperform various actions including a handling operation performed for thegaming equipment such as the roulette ball 33 used in the game.

In this regard, as shown in FIG. 8, the robotic dealer 2 comprises theright arm 21 (a first arm) and the left arm 22 (a second arm), the body23 supporting the two arms 21 and 22 as a bilateral symmetry, and thehead 24 which is disposed at the upper end of the body 23 and isswingable on all sides. Each of the arms 21 and 22 has a multiple degreeof freedom corresponding to the elbow and the wrist of a human, and theroots of arms are connected to the body 23 and have a degree of freedomno all sides such that they are able to make actions like the shoulderof a human body. Therefore, the arms 21 and 22 are able to move thehands 14 and 15 in a 3D space, and locate them at any position in the 3Dspace.

The body 23 has a multiple degree of freedom to rotate the lower end andswing the lower end in forward and backward directions. Since the body23 has the multiple degree of freedom mentioned above, the effectoperation may be performed for the personages such as a player of theterminal devices 4A-4C, and a passer and a visitor in addition to theplayer, through changing the gestures of the robotic dealer 2.Therefore, the robotic dealer 2 handles the roulette ball 33 with thearms 21 and 22 which may move the hands 14 and 15 to any position in a3D space, and performs the effect operation for the player with the body23 which supports the arms 21 and 22 and the arms 21 and 22 such thatthe actions approaching the actions of the arms and the body of thedealer handling the roulette ball 33 may be achieved. As a result, therobotic dealer 2 is able to provide a game environment approximating anatmosphere in which the roulette ball 33 is handled by the human dealerfor the player and the personages around the gaming machine 1.

In addition, in the present embodiment, in order to achieve a bodilyform closest approaching the human dealer, the robotic dealer 2comprising two arms, that is the right arm 21 and the left arm 22, isillustrated, however the present invention is not limited thereto, aslong as comprising more than one arm.

A conversation device with the player is disposed in the head of therobotic dealer 2. The conversation device comprises an informationoutput device for outputting a response information to the player. Inaddition, the conversation device may also comprise an informationacquiring device which is used for the player to acquire variousexternal information such as a voice, a gesture, an action, and anexpression. As the information output device, the example thereof may bea speaker device which is used to output a voice. The speaker devicecomprises a digital amplifier which is used to amplify an audio signal,and a speaker which converts an electric signal from the digitalamplifier into a sound wave and then output the sound wave. As theinformation acquiring device, the example thereof may be a camera devicewhich is used to acquire a video and a microphone device which is usedto acquire a voice. The camera device comprises more than one of a voiceangle sensor, a 3D sensor, a Full HD Camera.

The body 23 of the robotic dealer 2 is disposed at the top surface of asupporting stage 25. The supporting stage 25 has a square bottom 252which is disposed on the floor surface, four feet 251 which stand fromthe feet of the bottom 252, and a supporting part 253 which is disposedat the upper end of the feet 251 and is connected with the body 23. Theheight position of the top surface of the supporting stage 25 is setsuch that the bottom of the body 23 is a little lower than the topsurface position of the roulette device 3.

(Gaming Machine 1: The Mechanical Structure: The Overlooking InformationAcquiring Device 71)

As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 9, a wall part 11 is disposed at the backside of the robotic dealer 2. The wall part 11 provide a support to theoverlooking information acquiring device 71 which is used to take thedynamic images. The overlooking information acquiring device 71 isconfigured over the robotic dealer 2. The overlooking informationacquiring device 71 is set to take at least the back of the terminaldevices 4A-4C as the picture area. Therefore, the overlookinginformation acquiring device 71 is able to recognize the environmentaround the gaming machine 1.

(Gaming Machine 1: The Mechanical Structure: The Roulette Device 3)

The roulette device 3 is configured before the robotic dealer 2. Asshown in FIG. 10, the roulette device 3 has a roulette stage 34, theroulette wheel 31 which is disposed on the roulette stage 34, and arotating wheel 32 which is disposed at the internal circumference of theroulette wheel 31 rotationally free. The roulette wheel 31 has acircular ring periphery frame 311 which is secured at the top surfacewall of the roulette stage 34, an internal circumference wall 312 whichgoes down from the internal circumference end of the periphery fram3311, and an inclined wall 313 which titles down from the internalcircumference end of the internal circumference wall 312 to the center.A ditch-shaped guiding wall 312 a is formed at the lower part of theinternal circumference wall 312. The guiding wall 312 a is formed tocause the roulette ball 33 to contact therewith and perform a circlingmotion under the action of centrifugal force, and the roulette ball 33which is performing the circling motion may not fly out from theroulette wheel 31.

The inclined wall 313 of the roulette wheel 31 is formed to be acircular ring. The disc shaped rotating wheel 32 is formed at theinternal circumference of the inclined wall 313. With the driving of adriving motor (not shown) which is disposed within the roulette stage34, the rotating wheel 32 rotates at a predetermined speed along apredetermined direction (for example, a clockwise direction) relative tothe roulette wheel 31, in a period before a predetermined time and afterthe roulette ball 33 just beginning to rotate.

A plurality of pockets 321 are formed at the periphery of the rotatingwheel 32. These pockets 321 are configured to be divided with a sameinterval in the whole area of the periphery thereof. Independentsequence numbers are labeled near respective pockets 321 respectively,and the independent sequence numbers are colored with red, black andgreen. As mentioned above, the roulette wheel 31 is configured to causethe roulette ball 33 to contact the guiding wall 312 a and perform acircling motion under the action of centrifugal force, and then theroulette ball 33 drops toward the central part when the centrifugalforce weakens and is stopped at one of the pockets 321.

The respective pocket 321 may accept the roulette ball 33. In addition,the respective pocket 321 has a roulette ball checking sensor which isnot shown. After the roulette ball 33 is accept by the pocket 321, theroulette ball checking sensor is able to determine the pocket 321 whichaccepts the roulette ball 33 through checking the roulette ball 33.

In addition, it is preferably for the roulette device 3 that, the topsurface of the roulette wheel 31 in addition to the operating area ofthe robotic dealer 2 is covered by a covering part which is made of anacrylic resin. Therefore, it is able to reduce the possibility of theroulette ball 33 flying out from the roulette wheel 31. In addition, itis able to reduce the possibility of the foreign object intruding intothe roulette wheel 31 or other illegal actions occurring.

(Gaming Machine 1: The Mechanical Structure: The Roulette Device 3: ADelivering Device 37)

As shown in FIG. 11, the roulette device 3 comprises the deliveringdevice 37 which delivers the roulette ball 33 and causes it to perform acircling motion, and a roulette ball holding device 38, the rouletteball holding device 38 comprises a holding component 382 which is usedto hold the roulette ball 33 removably at the delivering position, andthe delivering position is a position where the roulette ball 33 isdelivered by the delivering device 37. Therefore, the roulette device 3may locate the delivering position of the roulette ball 33 through theholding component 382 of the roulette ball holding device 38 in a highprecision such that a stable delivering operation is able to beperformed for the roulette ball 33 by the delivering device 37.

In this regard, the delivering device 37 comprises a compressor (notshown) which brings air in from the surrounding environment andcompresses it to a predetermined pressure, and an air tube which carriesthe air which is compressed by the compressor. The compressor and theair tube described above are disposed in the roulette stage 34. The airtube is connected onto spray ports 312 b, and the spray ports 312 b areconfigured at a plurality of parts of the guiding wall 312 a. Therespective spray ports 312 b are formed such that the advancingdirection of the air which is compressed is slightly toward the internalcircumference relative to the tangential direction of the guiding wall312 a. Therefore, an air stream layer of the compressed air from therespective spray ports 312 b advancing along the guiding wall 312 a in aclockwise direction is formed in the roulette wheel 31.

The roulette ball 33 which is held at the delivering position by theroulette ball holding device 38 is drawn to the air stream layerdirection by the air stream, and the roulette ball 33 is moved into theair stream layer under the action of the air stream. Under the action ofthe air stream, the movement speed of the roulette ball 33 graduallyincreases, and the roulette ball 33 rotates along the guiding wall 312 ain a clockwise direction. On the other hand, the air stream disappearswhen stopping spraying out the compressed air, and at this moment, therotation speed of the roulette ball 33 gradually decreases such thatcentrifugal force is lost. Thereafter, the roulette ball 33 tumblesalong the inclined wall 313 and moves towards the inner side of theroulette wheel 31, and arrives at the rotating wheel 32 which isrotating. The roulette ball 33 is accepted in one of the pockets 321,and the pockets 321 are formed in the rotating wheel 32. A winningnumber is determined by the roulette device 3, and a payout is conductedaccording to the winning number which is determined and a betinformation which is used to represent a game player performing a bet.

(Gaming Machine 1: The Mechanical Structure: The Roulette Device 3: TheRoulette Ball Holding Device 38: A Holding Component 382)

The roulette ball holding device 38 comprises the holding component 382,which is also shown in FIG. 12. The holding component 382 is formed tohold the roulette ball 33 at the delivering position of the rouletteball 33 removably. The holding component 382 is configured not tocontact the roulette ball 33 which performs the circling motion alongthe guiding wall 312 a. That is to say, the holding component 382 isplaced opposite to the guiding wall 312 a with a space by a distancelarger than the diameter of the roulette ball 33. Therefore, even if theholding component 382 does not keep away from the delivering position,the roulette ball holding device 38 is able to cause the roulette ball33 to perform the circling motion along the guiding wall 312 a. Inaddition, the delivering position is also the holding position of theroulette ball 33.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 12, the holding component 382 is made bybending a filament component such as a metal wire, and comprises aholding part 3823 which bends and holds the roulette ball 33, a rotatingpart 3822 which is formed with the holding part 3823 at the front endthereof, and a rotating shaft 3821, and wherein the back of the rotatingpart 3822 (at the gyration side) is bent in the right direction. Theholding component 382 is set to be that, the bottom 3823 a of theholding part 3823 is at slight upper of the inclined wall 313, a bendingpart 3823 b is parallel to a vertical direction and is parallel to thetangential direction of the guiding wall 312 a, under the holding stateof the roulette ball in which the holding part 3823 is located at theholding position (the delivering position).

Therefore, regarding the holding component 382, as shown in FIG. 11 andFIG. 12, when the roulette ball 33 is carried to the inclined wall 313over the holding part 3823, the roulette ball 33 advances along theinclined wall 313 in the direction of the holding part 3823 under theaction of the gravity and is accepted in the bent holding part 3823. Atthis moment, even in the condition that the roulette ball 33 arrives atthe position slightly deviating from the central part of the holdingpart 3823, the roulette ball 33 is able to move to the central part ofthe holding part 3823 under the action of the gravity such that it maybe located at the holding position (the delivering position) correctly.As such, the work to dispose the roulette ball 33 in the roulette ballholding device 38 by the robotic dealer 2 automatically becomes easy toperform, and the work of disposing may be accomplished in a highlyreliable manner.

(Gaming Machine 1: The Mechanical Structure: The Roulette Device 3: TheRoulette Ball Holding Device 38: A Retreat Device 381)

In addition, as shown in FIG. 13, the roulette ball holding device 38comprises the retreat device 381 which is used to cause the holdingcomponent 382 to switch between a holding gesture and a retreat gesture.Wherein the “holding gesture” refers to the state of the holdingcomponent 382 when the holding part 3823 is at the holding position (thedelivering position). The “retreat gesture” refers to the state of theholding component 382 when the holding part 3823 is at the retreatposition. In the period of the roulette ball 33 performing a circlingmotion along the guiding wall 312 a, the roulette ball holding device 38causes the holding component 382 in the retreat gesture. Therefore, theroulette ball holding device 38 is able to prevent the followingconditions occurring that the holding component 382 is an obstacle forthe player who observes the roulette ball 33 moved in the roulette wheel31 and the roulette ball 33 may contact the holding component 382 whenthe roulette ball drops along the inclined wall 313.

The retreat device 381 is configured within the roulette wheel 31. Theretreat device 381 comprises a rotating shaft component 3814, and therotating shaft component 3814 provides a support to the end of arotating shaft part 3821 in the holding component 382 with a fixingstate. The axle center of the rotating shaft component 3814 isconsistent with the rotating center axis of the holding component 382.Therefore, the rotating shaft part 3821 of the holding component 382rotates along a forward direction and a reverse direction when therotating shaft component 3814 rotates along the forward direction andthe reverse direction. As a result, the holding part 3823 performs anup-and-down motion through the rotating part 3822 such that the holdingpart 3823 is separated from or approaches to the inclined wall 313.

The rotating shaft component 3814 is supported by the installing stage3815 and may rotate freely. Other ends of the rotating shaft component3814 are connected to the upper end of the rod-like first connectingcomponent 3813 with a fixing state. The first connecting component 3813is configured to be orthogonal to the axle center of the rotating shaftcomponent 3814. Therefore, when the lower end of the first connectingcomponent 3813 swings, the rotating shaft component 3814 which isconnected with the upper end of the first connecting component 3813rotates with a rotation angle corresponding to the above swinging, andthus the holding component 382 rotates in the up and down directionrelative to the inclined wall 313 with the rotation angle correspondingto the above swinging.

The lower end of the first connecting component 3813 may be connected onone end of a cylindrical second connecting component 3812 freerotationally. The axle center of the second connecting component 3812 isconfigured to be parallel to the axle center of the rotating shaftcomponent 3814. Other ends of the second connecting component 3812 maybe connected on the shaft component 3811 a of the cylinder device 3811free rotationally. The axle center of the shaft component 3811 a isconfigured to be orthogonal to the axle center of the second connectingcomponent 3812. The shaft component 3811 a of the cylinder device 3811is configured on one end of the cylinder device 3811. Other ends of thecylinder device 3811 are connected with the installing stage 3815. Theinstalling stage 3815 causes the cylinder device 3811 to swingcorresponding to the swinging of the first connecting component 3813 byproviding a support to the cylinder device 3811 and causing it to freerotate in the up and down direction.

In addition, the cylinder device 3811 comprises terminal parts 38111 and38112 which may drive the gas to inflow and outflow. The cylinder device3811 is switched by driving the gas to inflow and outflow such that theshaft component 3811 a is caused to advance and retreat. Therefore, whenthe cylinder device 3811 causes the shaft component 3811 a to entranceand egress, the lower end of the first connecting component 3813reverses in the entrancing and egressing direction through the secondconnecting component 3812 such that the holding part 3823 of the holdingcomponent 382 is caused to decline and approach to the inclined wall 313through the rotating shaft component 3814. On the other hand, when thecylinder device 3811 causes the shaft component 3811 a to recede, thelower end of the first connecting component 3813 reverses in thereceding direction through the second connecting component 3812 suchthat the holding part 3823 of the holding component 382 is caused torise and be away from the inclined wall 313 through the rotating shaftcomponent 3814.

The entrancing and egressing position and the receding position of theshaft component 3811 a of the cylinder device 3811 is set to be acertain position. The entrancing and egressing position of the shaftcomponent 3811 a is set such that the holding part 3823 of the holdingcomponent 382 is able to hold the roulette ball 33 at the deliveringposition. That is to say, the holding component 382 is set to be aholding gesture at the entrancing and egressing position of the shaftcomponent 3811 a. On the other hand, the receding position of the shaftcomponent 3811 a is set to be the retreating position, and at theretreating position, the holding component 382 may not obstruct theroulette ball 33 to perform the circling motion under the action of thecompressed air, and may also not obstruct the player to observe theroulette ball 33. That is to say, the holding component 382 is set to bea retreating gesture at the receding position of the shaft component3811 a.

(Gaming Machine 1: The Mechanical Structure: The Roulette Device 3: TheRoulette Ball Holding Device 38: A Modification of the Holding Component382)

The holding component 382 mentioned above is made by bending thefilament component such as a metal wire, however the present inventionis not limited thereto, and it may be made by cutting a flakinesscomponent. In this regard, as shown in FIG. 14, the holding component383 comprises the holding part 3831 which is used to hold the rouletteball 33 and the guiding part 3813 which is used to guide the rouletteball 33 which moves in the center part direction of the roulette wheel31 to the direction of the holding part 3831. According to the structurementioned above, even in the condition that the roulette ball 33 movesto the guiding part 3832 deviated from the holding part 3831, theoperation to cause the guiding part 3832 to hold the roulette ball 33 isable to be performed steadily because the guiding part 3832 may causethe roulette ball 33 to move the holding part 3831 and holding it. Inaddition, it is preferably that, as shown in FIG. 15, the holding part3831 comprises a inclined part 3831 a, and the inclined part 3831 a isconsistent with the tangent line of the roulette ball 33 such that theroulette ball 33 is held when holding a facial contacting with theroulette ball 33.

The holding part 3831 is configured at one end of the holding component383. Other ends of the holding component 383 are supported on therotating shaft component 3814 of the retreating device 381 in a fixingstate. Therefore, when the rotating shaft component 3814 in theretreating device 381 rotates in the forward direction and the reversedirection, the holding component 383 is caused to rotate in the up anddown direction with other ends of the holding component 383 as thereversing center such that the retreating gesture and the holdinggesture are achieved.

In addition, the holding component 383 is able to serve as the guidingwall which is used to guide the roulette ball 33 to the holding part3831 because the holding component is formed to be flakiness. In thisregard, as shown in FIG. 16, when the roulette ball 33 is carried ontothe inclined wall 313 over the sides of the rotating shaft component3814 deviated from the holding component 3831, the roulette ball 33advances along the inclined wall 313 in the direction of the holdingpart 3831 under the action of the gravity and touches the guiding part3832. Then, the roulette ball 33 contacts the holding part 3832 andmoves toward the direction of the holding part 3831 and is held by theholding part 3831. As such, the work to dispose the roulette ball 33 inthe roulette ball holding device 38 by the robotic dealer 2automatically becomes easy to perform, and the work of disposing may beaccomplished in a highly reliable manner.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 17, one end of the robotic dealer 2 isdisposed with a protruding part 384. The protruding part 384 severs as astopper of the roulette ball 33 which moves along the guiding part 3832,thus assisting the holding part 3831 to hold the roulette ball 33, andassisting to move the roulette ball 33 deviated from the holding part3831 into the air stream.

Specifically, as further shown in FIG. 18, comparing with the holdingpart 3831, the protruding part 384 is configured at the downstream sideof the circling motion direction (air stream) of the roulette ball 33.That is to say, the protruding part 384 is disposed at one end of theholding component 383, and thus comparing with the holding part 3831which is formed at one end of the holding component 383, the protrudingpart 384 is configured at the downstream side of the circling motiondirection (air stream) of the roulette ball 33. The protruding part 384protrudes toward the wall face direction of the roulette wheel 31.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 19, because the roulette ball 33 is causedto perform the circling motion with the aid of the air stream, in thecondition that the roulette ball 33 is caused to deviate from theholding part 3831, the pressure and the flow rate decreases accordinglynear the air stream based on the Bernoulli's principle. Therefore, a lowpressure side of the air stream and a high pressure side of theatmosphere are formed with the holding component 383 sandwichedtherebetween, and as such, the roulette ball 33 advances toward thedirection of the air direction (the wall face direction of the roulettewheel 31) under the action of the pressure difference. In addition, whenthe roulette ball 33 moves to the downstream side under the action ofthe air stream, the protruding part 384 which is configured at thedownstream side causes the roulette ball 33 to move toward the internaldirection of the air (the wall face direction of the roulette wheel 31)forcefully, and therefore it is easy to cause the roulette ball 33 toenter into the compressed air stream reflowing along the wall face ofthe roulette wheel 31.

(Gaming Machine 1: The Mechanical Structure: The Safety InformationAcquiring Device 61)

As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 9, the safety information acquiring device61 is disposed above the diagonal of the roulette device 3 and at theside direction of the robotic dealer 2. The safety information acquiringdevice 61 is disposed on the roulette stage 34. The safety informationacquiring device 61 is set to take the roulette wheel as the picturearea. Therefore, the safety information acquiring device 61 is able tocheck the abnormal operation applied to the roulette device 3 by theexternal. Wherein, as the example of the “abnormal operation”, it may bean action that a player would like to touch the rotating wheel 32 andthe roulette ball 33 and an operation that the items such as acigarette, a lighter and a portable set which are not used in theroulette game into the roulette wheel 31.

(Gaming Machine 1: The Mechanical Structure: The Terminal Devices 4A-4C)

Various terminal devices 4A-4C are configured such that the player whohas a seat faces to the robotic dealer 2 spaced with the roulette device3. That is to say, the second terminal device 4B is configured to faceto the front side of the robotic dealer 2, the first terminal device 4Aand the third terminal device 4C take the second terminal device 4B asthe center and are configured at both sides of the second terminaldevice 4B.

As shown in FIG. 19, various terminal devices 4A-4C have atouch-sensitive display device 41. The display device 41 is able todisplay a roulette table which is used to represent a bet state. Thedisplay device 41 displays the bet state in the various terminal device4A-4C and sets and changes the bet which is conducted with a touchingoperation performed by the player.

In addition, respective terminal devices 4A-4C comprise two speakerdevices 42A and 42B. Respective speaker devices 42A and 42B areconfigured at one end and other ends of the roulette device 3respectively. The speaker device 42A and 42B mentioned above output theoperation sound of the roulette device 3, the operation sound of 33, theeffect sound of betting, and so on.

(Gaming Machine 1: The Mechanical Structure: The Player AnalyzingDevices 5A, 5B and 5C)

The player information acquiring device 51 is configured between thespeaker device 42A and 42B of respective terminal devices 4A-4C. Theplayer information acquiring device 51 comprises the camera devices 511and 512 and the microphone device 513. The camera devices 511 and 512are set to take the face of a player as the picture area as shown inFIG. 9. Therefore, the player analyzing devices 5A and 5B are able toperform an emotion determining process, a gender determining process, aprocess that determines whether there is a conversation or not, and aprocess forming the application video.

(A System Configuration of the Gaming Machine 1)

As shown in FIG. 1, the gaming machine 1 comprises a robotic dealer 2,which simulates a human dealer through a robot, a roulette device 3conducting a roulette game, and three terminal devices 4A-4C (FIG. 7),which are configured around the roulette device 3. The gaming machine 1further comprises the player analyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C configuredcorrespondingly to the respective terminal devices 4A-4C and used toacquire the voice and the video of the respective player and analyzethem, the safety camera recognition device 6 which is able to check theabnormal operation applied to the roulette device 3 by the external, thecamera recognition device 7 which is able to recognize the conditionaround the gaming machine 1, and a CAIWA server 8 which is able to takean action responsive to the utterance of the player.

The player analyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C comprise the playerinformation acquiring device 51 and the player camera unit 52. Theplayer information acquiring device 51 comprises two types of cameradevices 511 and 512 and the microphone device 513.

The safety camera recognition device 6 comprises the safety informationacquiring device 61 and the roulette state camera unit 62. The safetyinformation acquiring device 61 comprises two types of camera devices611 and 612. The camera devices 611 and 612 mentioned above areconfigured to be able to take pictures for the top surface of theroulette device 3. One type of the camera device 611 is a highdefinition video camera. The other type of the camera device 612 is aninfrared camera. The roulette state camera unit 62 outputs the dynamicimage information of the roulette device 3 (a video delivering process)according to the video from the camera devices 611 and 612.

The overlooking camera recognition device 7 comprises the overlookinginformation acquiring device 71 and the overlooking camera unit 62. Theoverlooking information acquiring device 71 comprises two types ofcamera devices 711 and 712. The camera devices 711 and 712 mentionedabove are configured to be able to take pictures for the entirety of theroulette device 3 and the background of the terminal devices 4A-4C. Onetype of the camera device 711 is a high definition video camera. Theother type of the camera device 712 is an infrared camera. Theoverlooking camera unit 72 is configured to perform a read-in process ofa camera video, an image analyzing process, an analyzing process of thenumber of persons, a location of a person, and an action, a get-inprocess of a video of an application and a video distributing processaccording to the video from the camera devices 711 and 712.

In addition, the gaming machine 1 further comprise the main unit 101which is used to perform a variety of process. The main unit 101connects the player analyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C, the safety camerarecognition device 6, the camera recognition device 7, and the server 8through the hub 102. The gaming machine 1 performs a variety of processby cooperating with the 52, 62, and 72 of the respective devices 5, 6and 7 and the CAIWA server 8. The specific contents regarding thevariety of process are described in the below.

(Gaming Machine 1: A Display Device for Management)

As shown in FIG. 21, the main unit 101 is connected to the displaydevice for management 9. The display device for management 9 intensivelydisplay the information from the player analyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C,the safety camera recognition device 6 and the overlooking camerarecognition device 7 such that a plurality of information may be managedvery easy. In this regard, as shown in FIG. 22, the display device formanagement 9 comprises a human detail area 91, a overlooking cameradelivering video area 92, a first player delivering video area 93, asecond player delivering video area 94, a third player delivering videoarea 95, a safety camera delivering video area 96, and a 3D simulatorarea.

The human detail area 91 comprises an ID area 911 which is used todetermine respective personages, and a character area 912 which is usedto represent the character of the respective personages. The ID area911, for example, displays ID1, ID2, ID3, and so on. For example, thecharacter area 912 displays the following various information: thegender of the personage represented by ID1, the orientation where theplayer is located when observed by the robotic dealer 2, the distancefrom the robotic dealer 2, the body height of the personage, whether itis the player, an emotion such as anger or enjoyment, the setting stateregarding whether it is allowed to make a conversation with the roboticdealer 2, and so on.

In the safety camera delivering video area 96, the whole personagespresented in the predetermined area behind (a direction opposite to therobotic dealer 2 side) the roulette device 3 are displayed according tothe video from the overlooking camera recognition device 7 in FIG. 21.Besides, the safety camera delivering video area 96 further display thegender and the age of the respective personages, whether there is aplayer, and the utterance contents, in addition to displaying thepersonages.

The first to third player delivering video areas 93-95 display thefacial images of the respective players according to the video from theplayer analyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C in FIG. 21 and display the genderand the emotion of the respective players. The safety camera deliveringvideo area 96 displays the video from the safety camera recognitiondevice 6 in FIG. 21. In the 3D simulator area 97, the robotic dealer 2displays the operation state of the robotic dealer 2 in the virtualspace.

(The Handling Operation of the Gaming Machine 1: A Condition SeizingProcess)

The contents of the process in the gaming machine 1 is illustrated indetail in the below. As shown in FIG. 23A, the gaming machine 1 performsthe condition seizing process (A1). The condition seizing processincludes a condition seizing process based on the visual sense (A11), acondition seizing process based on the voice (A12), a game conditionseizing process (A13), a voice target determination process (A14), and aprecedence action determination process (A15).

The condition seizing process based on the visual sense (A11) includes aprocess to search the target object according to the video from theoverlooking camera recognition device 7 (A111), and in this process, thetype of the personage is analyzed, and the number of persons and thelocation thereof are seized according to the image analysis and theinfrared ray, and the conversation target personage is determinedaccording to the image analysis and the microphone direction.

In addition, the condition seizing process based on the visual (A11)includes the process that the target object condition is seized by theaction history (A12). In this process, the gradual behavior of thetarget object is analyzed. Wherein, the “target object” refers to thepersonage (player) who conducts a game through the gaming machine 1 andthe personage presented around the gaming machine 1. The “gradualbehavior” is the following actions 1-5. Action 1: the personage walking.Action 2: the personage stopping walking before the roulette device 3.Action 3: the personage approaching to the roulette device 3. Action 4:the personage observing the roulette device 3. Action 5: the personagegreeting the robotic dealer 2. Besides, the condition of the personageas the target object is seized with the gradual behavior 1-5 mentionedabove.

In addition, the condition seizing process based on the visual sense(A11) includes the process that the condition of the roulette device 3is seized according to the information from the safety camerarecognition device 6 (A113). In addition, the condition seizing processbased on the visual sense (A11) includes the process that the conditionof the player is seized according to the information from the playeranalyzing devices 5A, 5B and 5C (A114). In this process, thepsychological states of the player in the game is analyzed. Thepsychological states are analyzed according to the expression, theanimal heat, the reaction, and the face recognition of the player.

The condition seizing process based on the voice (A12) includes theprocess that the condition is seized according to the video from thecamera devices 511 and 512 of the player information acquiring device 51(A121). The game condition seizing process (A13) is the process that thestates of the player in the game are analyzed. The analysis is performedaccording to “winning or losing”, “winning streak”, and “losing streak”.

The voice target determination process (A14) is the process which isused to determine the player who utters. The player who utters isdetermined by the utterance recognition device 5. The precedence actiondetermination process (A15) is the modes switching process including theaudit therein. For example, the modes include a gaming mode, aconversation mode, an advertising mode, a show demonstration mode, anaudit mode, and so on.

(The Handling Operation of the Gaming Machine 1: A Conversation Process)

After the condition seizing process (A1) is performed, as shown in FIG.23B, the conversation process (A2) is performed. The conversationprocess (A2) includes a conversation mode determination process (A21), avoice optimization process (A22), a CAIWA process (A23), an emotiondetermination process (A24), a voice synthesis process (A25), and avoice utterance process (A26).

In the conversation mode determination process (A21), it is able toswitch a free talking mode, a gaming conversation mode, and a conciergemode. In the voice optimization process (A22), the character string isanalyzed (A221). For example, it is analyzed whether it is the wordwhich may be understood by the CAIWA server 8. In the CAIWA process(A23), log in the CAIWA server 8, and make a conversation with theplayer (A231) according to the information from the CAIWA server 8.

In the emotion determination process (A24), the emotion corresponding tothe conversation with the player is determined (S24). Thereafter, in thevoice synthesis process (A25), a voice data is generated (A251) and thevoice data is analyzed (A252). Then, in the voice utterance process(A26), the utterance is performed with the voice data (A261). At thismoment, an LED control process is performed (A2611) according to theemotion determined in A24, the voice data analysis result in A252 andthe voice utterance in A261. In this process, the color and the blinkmode of the illumination light are switched according to the timingcorresponding to the conversation, the illumination light provides anillumination to the surrounding part of the mouth of the robotic dealer2, and thus the conversation and the operation of the robotic dealer 2are able to have a sense of reality.

In addition, an eye LED control process is performed according to themouth LED control process (A2611) and the emotion which is determined inA24. In this process, the color and the blink mode of the illuminationlight are switched according to the emotion changes, the illuminationlight provides an illumination to the surrounding part of the eye of therobotic dealer 2, and thus the robotic dealer 2 is able to show itsemotion. In addition, the structure of the emotion of the robotic dealer2 is shown by the way of the color and the blink of the illuminationlight, which will be described in the below.

(The Handling Operation of the Gaming Machine 1: An Action Process)

After the condition seizing process (A1) or the conversation process(A2) is performed, as shown in FIG. 23C, the action process (A3) isperformed. The action process (A3) has a robot operation determinationprocess (A31), a robot sight consistence process (A32), a motion buildprocess (A33) and an operation replay process (A34).

In the robot operation determination process (A31), the operation of therobotic dealer 2 is determined (A311). In the robot sight consistenceprocess (A32), the robotic dealer 2 observes the target objectcorresponding to the game mode. For example, the following operationsare performed correspondingly to the game mode: the operation of therobotic dealer 2 observing the player (A321), the operation of therobotic dealer 2 observing the hands, and the operation of the roboticdealer 2 observing in all directions (A323).

In the motion build process (A33), the position information ofrespective factors (the arms 21 and 22, the body 23, the head 24 and soon) corresponding to the operations of the robotic dealer 2 aregenerated (A331). Then, a synthesis is performed for the positioninformation of these factors (A332). Thereafter, in the operation replayprocess (A34), the robotic dealer 2 is caused to perform operations inthe virtual space by the 3D simulator process (A341). In addition, inthe virtual space, there are some components which may be the obstacleacquired in the roulette device, the overlooking information acquiringdevice 71 and so on virtually, in addition to the robotic dealer 2.

Thereafter, an actual operation is performed by the robotic dealer 2through the robot process (A342). At this moment, in the process of theactual operation of the robotic dealer 2, a 3D position is calculated inadvance before the robotic dealer 2 actually arrives by performing aconflict preventing roulette game of FIG. 24, and it is determinedwhether the robotic dealer 2 collides the respective components such asthe roulette device 3. If colliding, the position information of therespective factors is recalculated to prevent colliding, or the roboticdealer 2 is caused to stop the operation. The conflict preventingprocess is illustrated in detail in the below.

(The Handling Operation of the Gaming Machine 1: The Action Process: TheConflict Preventing Process)

As shown in FIG. 25, the gaming machine 1 which performs the conflictpreventing process has the following structure. That is to say, thegaming machine 1 has the robotic dealer 2 (the dealer replacementdevice) which is used to perform a variety of operations including thehandling operation which handles the roulette ball 33 (the gamingequipment) used in the game, an obstacle checking device (theoverlooking camera recognition device 7, the safety camera recognitiondevice 6, the main unit 101 and so on) which is used to check theobstacle 111 such as the arms of a person in the monitoring areaincluding the motion range of the robotic dealer 2, and the main unit101 (the control device) in FIG. 1, which simulates the operation of therobotic dealer 2 in advance before and during the motion of the roboticdealer 2, and if the obstacle is presented on the operation which issimulated, a control is performed to cause the robotic dealer 2 toperform an operation corresponding to the abnormal state.

Wherein, the “operation corresponding to the abnormal state” refers toall operations which are adopted to prevent the robotic dealer 2colliding with the obstacle 111. For example, the robotic dealer 2during the motion stops before the obstacle 111, or the robotic dealer 2performs an operation avoiding the obstacle 111 or sends an alarm by themanner such as a sound or a light while performing the avoidingoperation.

According to the structure mentioned above, before and during theoperation of the robotic dealer 2, if the obstacle is presented on theoperation which is simulated in advance, it is able to prevent therobotic dealer 2 colliding with the unexpected obstacle 111 by causingthe robotic dealer 2 to perform the operation corresponding to theabnormal state.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 24, when the main unit 101 performs theconflict preventing process routine, the video dynamic images taken bythe camera devices 711 and 712 of the overlooking information acquiringdevice 71, the camera devices 611 and 612 of the safety informationacquiring device 61, and other camera devices which are not shown areacquired (S51). Then, a 3D position data of the construction in themonitoring area is acquired according to the video dynamic image inadvance, and the monitoring area is set to include the motion range ofthe robotic dealer 2. In addition, the construction in a part of thegaming machine 1, for example, the roulette device 3, the robotic dealer2 and so on, and it is also the obstacle 111 such as a person and acomponent in addition to the gaming machine 1. The 3D data of theconstruction mentioned above is unfolded in the virtual spaceconstructed in a memory. Therefore, a part of the gaming machine 1 andthe obstacle 111 in the monitoring area are recovered virtually. Inaddition, in order to allow the managers to observe the construction inthe virtual space, the construction in the virtual space is displayed inthe management device 9.

Thereafter, it is determined whether the robotic dealer 2 performs anoperation or not (S54). If the robotic dealer 2 does not perform anoperation (S54: NO), a construction based on a new video operation isrecovered virtually by re-performing the operation from S51.

If the robotic dealer 2 performs an operation (S54: YES), the operationcontents of the robotic dealer 2 are acquired (S65). The operation ofthe robotic dealer 2 is formed to be the 3D position data according tothe operation contents (S56). And the 3D position data is unfolded inthe virtual space (S57). Therefore, in the virtual space of themonitoring area, a synthesis is performed for the operation path of therobotic dealer 2 and the construction. In addition, in order to allowthe managers to observe the operation path of the robotic dealer 2 inthe virtual space, it is displayed in the management device 9.

Next, it is determined whether the there is a construction as theobstacle 111 in the operation path or not (S58). That is to say, it isdetermined whether the respective factors such as the arms 21 and 22 ofthe robotic dealer 2 which move in the operation path collide with theobstacle 111. If there is no construction in the operation path (S58:NO), the robotic dealer 2 performs an operation (S60), re-performingfrom S1. Therefore, the robotic dealer 2 performs a normal operation asthe operation path.

On the other hand, if there is a construction in the operation path(S58: YES), an operation corresponding to the abnormal state isperformed (S59) because the robotic dealer 2 will collide with theobstacle 111. For example, the robotic dealer 2 is caused to stop theoperation, sends a voice of warning, calculates a conflict preventingpath, and so on. Then, re-performing operation from S58, and before theobstacle 111 is removed, the robotic dealer 2 is caused to stopoperations thereof.

In addition, regarding the operation corresponding to the abnormalstate, it is also set to be that the dynamic images of the roboticdealer 2 may change as the time of the abnormal state goes by. Forexample, if it is the first abnormal state, the robotic dealer 2 stops,and after the first time goes by, the robotic dealer 2 in the conditionof being stopped outputs the alarm by the manner of the voice or thelight, and after the second time goes by, the robotic dealer 2 performsa recover operation such as returning to the initial position. Inaddition, the operation corresponding to the abnormal state may changeaccording to the type of the obstacle 111. For example, it may be thatif the obstacle 111 is a human, it is preferably that, the roboticdealer 2 is caused to stop the action, and the operation stopping andthe alarm voice occurring are performed at the same time, and if theobstacle 111 is an object, the operation is stopped first, and the alarmvoice is output after a predetermined time.

(The Expression of Emotion of the Robotic Dealer 2)

The face of the robotic dealer 2 changes through the color and the blinkof the illumination light such that the expression of emotion of therobotic dealer 2 is achieved. The structure is illustrated in the below.

As shown in FIG. 26, the robotic dealer 2 has a face-formed-body 241which forms a shape of face by the translucent resin, a light emittingdevice 242 which is configured inside of the face-formed-body 241 and isable to project the light with a variety of color switchably to any areaof the face-formed-body 241, and the main unit 101 (the light emittingcontrol device) which controls the light emitting device 242 and causesit to select the color of the light and the irradiation area of theface-formed-body 241 according to the different situation and projectthe light of the selected color into the selected irradiation area. Thelight emitting device 242 is set correspondingly to the respective areasand may adopt the full color LED and so on.

Therefore, the robotic dealer 2 selects the color of the lightpenetrating the face-formed-body 241 and the area penetrated by thelight according to the different situation, and expresses the emotionwith the color of the light and the area, and thus it is able to allowthe game environment to approach to the atmosphere in which theoperation is performed by the human dealer.

Specifically, the face-formed-body of the robotic dealer 2 has aforehead area 2431, an eye area 2433, a nose area 2434, a mouth area2436, and a cheek area 2435. The main unit 101 selects the followingvarious states according to the different situation, that are, a generalstate in which the eye area 2433 is irradiated by a blue light, aenjoyment state in which the eye area 2433 is irradiated by the bluelight and the cheek area 2435 is irradiated by a pink light, a angerstate in which the eye area 2433 is irradiated by the pink light, and asadness state in which the forehead area 2431 is irradiated by the bluelight. Therefore, the robotic dealer 2 is able to achieve abundantexpressions of emotion with the color of the light and the irradiatedarea. In addition, it is preferably that, the main unit 101 blinks themouth area 2436 with the blue light when the robotic dealer 2 isuttering. In this condition, the state of the utterance when variousemotions are expressed may be represented by the blue light of the moutharea 2436.

Wherein, regarding the “irradiated area”, the dividing manner of theareas is to perform the expression of the various emotions, and there isno particular definition, however it is preferably that, it is dividedto be the eye area 2433, a brows area 2432, the nose area 2434, thecheek area 2435, the mouth area 2436 and a mandible area 2437. Inaddition, it is preferably for the light emitting device 242 that, thelight emitting devices 2421, 2422, 2423, 2424, 2425, 2426, and 2427 aredisposed approximately in the center part of the respective areas 2433,2432, 2435, 2436, and 2437 independently. In the condition that theirradiated area is divided into the above areas 2432-2437, the roboticdealer 2 may be allowed to have the expression or micro expressioncorresponding to the type of the emotion by the combination of the areas2431-2437.

In addition, as mentioned above, the “micro expression” refers to anexpression which changes instantaneously in a certain time, for example0.25 second, in a partial area of face of a person according to thedifferent types of emotion. Therefore, when the robotic dealer 2 outputsthe micro expression, the illumination is provided to the irradiatedarea consisted of the combination of the areas 2431-2437 in a certaintime (for example, 0.25 seconds), or the color of the illumination lightis caused to change.

(The Relationship Between the Expression/Micro Expression and the Typeof the Emotion)

As shown in FIG. 27, the expression and micro expression are theexpression that a partial area of the face changes because of thedifferent types of the emotion. Besides, the “micro expression” refersto the expression which changes instantaneously in a certain time, forexample 0.25 second, in a partial area. For example, the expression ormicro expression of “disgust” refers to the action of the skin of thenose pursing up. The expression or micro expression of “fear” refers tothe combination of the following action, that are, an action of thebrows rising, an action of the brows gathering toward the middle, anaction of eyes opening greatly, an action of the blephar putting forthits strength, and an action of the corners of mouth transversestretching. The expression or micro expression of “anger” refers to thecombination of the following action, that are, an action of the browsgathering toward the middle, an action of eyes opening greatly, anaction of the blephar putting forth its strength, and an action of thelips closing tightly, and an action of opening the mouth.

The expression or micro expression of “happiness” refers to thecombination of both the action of cheeks rising and the corners of mouthrising, or just the action of the corners of mouth rising. Theexpression or micro expression of “sadness” refers to the combination ofthe following action, that are, an action of the inside of the browsrising, an action of the brows gathering toward the middle, an action ofthe corners of mouth drooping downward, and an action of the lower lippouting upward. The expression and micro expression of “contempt” refersto an action of the corner of one side of mouth rising. The expressionor micro expression of “astonishment” refers to the combination of thefollowing action: an action of the brows rising, an action of eyesopening greatly, and an action of opening mouth.

In the present embodiment, the main unit 101 conserves the data table,and in the data table, an association is built between the types ofemotion of FIG. 27 and the action of the respective area of theexpression. Besides, the main unit 101 allows the association betweenthe respective actions of the expression or micro expression and thelight amount, the light color, and the irradiated area of theillumination light to be built, and is able to allow the personageseeing the irradiated state from outside to associate the respectiveactions by controlling the light emitting device 242. For example, if itis the action of “eyes opening greatly”, the area of the illuminationlight of the eye area 2433 increases.

In addition, it is preferably that, the main unit 101 changes the lightamount, the light color, and the irradiated area of the illuminationlight according to the game state, which allows a person to associatethe respective actions of the expression or micro expression. Forexample, there is the foreign object 110 presented in the alarm boundaryarea 31B of FIG. 20, and there is the foreign object 110 presented inthe stop boundary area 31A, and in the both condition, even if theexpression or micro expression of “astonishment” is represented as well,the stop boundary area 31A may be set to be a more important conditionthan the alarm boundary area 31B such that the light emitting device 242increases its light intense or changes its light color.

Besides, the main unit 101 may also cause the robotic dealer 2 toperform the operation of FIG. 5 corresponding to the type of the emotionwhile controlling the light emitting device 242 according to the changeof the game state. For example, in the condition that there is theforeign object 110 presented in the alarm boundary area 31B, the lightemitting device 242 may be controlled to show the expression or microexpression of “astonishment”, and in the condition that there is theforeign object 110 presented in the stop boundary area 31A, the lightemitting device 242 may be controlled to show the expression or microexpression of “astonishment” while the robotic dealer 2 is caused toperform an action of shoulders lifting and an action of taking a deepbreath. In addition, the expression and micro expression may bepreferably switched according to the different condition. For example,when a game result such as the roulette ball 33 is accepted in thepocket occurs just now, the robotic dealer 2 may be controlled to showthe micro expression and then show the general expression, and when aperson such as a player performs a general conversation, the roboticdealer 2 may be controlled to show an expression.

(The Reception Device)

In the above description, the present invention is illustrated with therobotic dealer 2 and the gaming machine 1, however the present inventionis not limited thereto. That is to say, the present invention is areception device, which may has an operation device which performs avariety of operations, a camera device taking the dynamic images for theperipheral area of the operation device, and a control device analyzingthe action of the personage presented in the peripheral area accordingto the dynamic images of the peripheral area taken by the camera deviceand performing a control to cause the operation device to perform theoperation corresponding to the analysis result.

Wherein, as the “reception device”, in addition to the gaming machineused in the playground, the example thereof may further comprises acustomer service device used in the place such as a hotel, a mall, ashop, a post office, a bank, and a ticket office, a nursing device usedin a hospital, a nursing care device used in a nursing agency, and soon. That is to say, the present invention may be applied to a variety offacility. In addition, as the “operation device”, in addition to therobotic dealer, the example thereof may further comprises a customerservice robot, a nursing robot and a nursing care robot.

According to the above structure, because the operation device performsa variety of operations corresponding to the analysis result for thepersonage presented in the peripheral area thereof, it is able to allowthe environment of the reception device to approach to the atmosphere ofthe human operation.

In addition, the present invention is a reception device, which may hasan operation device which performs a variety of operations, a cameradevice taking the dynamic images for the operation area of the operationdevice, and a control device determining whether there is an abnormalcondition in the operation area according to the dynamic images taken bythe camera device, and if it is determined that there is an abnormalcondition, a control is performed to cause the operation device toperform the operation corresponding to the abnormal condition.

According to the above structure, because the operation device performsthe operation corresponding to the abnormal condition, it is able toallow the environment of the reception device to approach to theatmosphere of the human operation.

In addition, the present invention is a reception device, whichcomprises an operation device performing a variety of operations, anobstacle checking device checking the obstacle in the monitoring areawhich includes the motion range of the operation device, and a controldevice simulating the operation path of the operation device in advancebefore the operation device performs an action and during the process ofperforming the action, and if there is an obstacle in the simulatedoperation path, a control is performed to cause the operation device toperform the operation corresponding to the abnormal state.

According to the structure mentioned above, before the operation deviceperforms an action and during the process of performing the action, ifthe obstacle is presented on the operation which is simulated inadvance, it is able to prevent the operation device colliding with theobstacle by causing the operation device to perform the operationcorresponding to the abnormal state.

In addition, the present invention is an operation device, whichcomprises a face-formed-body which forms a shape of face by thetranslucent resin, a light emitting device which is configured inside ofthe face-formed-body and is able to project the light with a variety ofcolor switchably to any area of the face-formed-body, and a lightemitting control device which controls the light emitting device andcauses it to select the color of the light and the irradiation area ofthe face-formed-body according to the different situation and projectthe light of the selected color into the selected irradiation area.

According to the above structure, the color of the light penetrating theface-formed-body and the area penetrated by the light are selectedaccording to the different situation, and the emotion is shown with thecolor of the light and the area, and thus it is able to allow theenvironment to approach to the atmosphere of the human operation.

The Second Embodiment

The second embodiment of the present invention will be illustratedaccording to the drawings as follows.

In the following detailed description, only certain embodiments of thepresent invention have been shown and described, simply by way ofillustration. As those skilled in the art would realize, the describedembodiments may be modified in various different ways, all withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the present invention.Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded asillustrative in nature and not restrictive. Like reference numeralsdesignate like elements throughout the specification.

A gaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention isdescribed with reference to FIG. 28 to FIG. 36.

FIG. 28 is a schematic perspective view of a gaming machine according toan embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 29 is an expanded partialview of the gaming machine shown in FIG. 28, FIG. 30 is a schematicperspective view of a right hand of a gaming machine according to anembodiment of the present invention, FIG. 31 is a schematic perspectiveview of a left hand of a gaming machine according to an embodiment ofthe present invention, FIG. 32 is a schematic front view of the righthand of a gaming machine according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, FIG. 33 is a schematic rear view of the right hand of agaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG.34 is a schematic sectional view of an object holder on the left hand ofa gaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention,and FIG. 35 illustrates facial expressions of a game dealer deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 28, a gaming machine M1 according to an embodiment ofthe present invention includes a game dealer device M10, a game deviceM3 such as a roulette device, and a plurality of player stations PS.

Referring to FIG. 29, the roulette device M3 includes a ball holder M17disposed near a spinning rail. The ball holder M17 may be made of a bentpiano string and connected to a motor M such that the ball holder M17can rotate around an rotation axis of the motor M to change itsposition. The ball holder M17 may be configured such that a ball on theball holder M17 may be spaced apart from the spinning rail by a distanced greater than a diameter of the roulette ball M2.

Referring to FIG. 28 again, the game dealer device M10 handles a gameobject M2 used for a game such as roulette. The game dealer device M10is a substitute for a human dealer.

The game dealer device M10 includes a right arm M12, a left arm M13, anda body M11. The arms M12 and M13 has a degree of freedom correspondingto an elbow and a wrist of a human body. The arms M12 and M13 arecoupled to the body M11 at a position of shoulders of a human body.

The right arm M12 includes a handling part M14, for example, a hand-likemechanism with a plurality of fingers M141, and each pair of adjacentfingers M141 may be driven by a motor M143. The left arm M13 alsoincludes a handling part M15, for example, a hand-like mechanism with aplurality of fingers M151, which handles the game object M2. Thehandling part M15 of the left arm M13 includes an object holder M18 thatholds the game object M2 by means of pressure reduction. The objectholder M18 may be disposed at a tip of a finger M151 of the hand M15,and The object holder M18 includes a cylindrical member M182 and ansucker M181 touching the roulette ball M2A and disposed at the tip ofthe cylindrical member M182. The cylindrical member M182 is connected toan air compressor (not shown). The sucker M181 includes a sucking faceM181 b contacting the ball M2 and an inhale hole M181 a that is open tothe sucking face M181 b. The inhale hole M181 a is air-communicated tothe air compressor through the cylindrical member M182. A part of thesucker M181 contacting the ball M2A includes elastic material. The gamedealer device M10 places the ball M2 attached to the ball holder M18 onthe ball holder M17 of the roulette device M3 by approaching theattached ball M2 to the ball holder M17 and stopping the air inhale. Thegame dealer device M10 may make the ball M2 start spinning along thespinning rail by striking the ball M2 on the ball holder M17 of theroulette device M3 into the spinning rail. According to anotherembodiment, the ball M2 on the ball holder M17 may be pushed out to thespinning rail by moving or rotating the ball holder M17.

The arms M12 and M13 are configured to move the handling parts M14 andM15 in a three-dimensional space. The body M11 includes a head M16 thatmay move left and right. The body M11 may change its posture by rotatingand/or moving forward and backward.

Referring to FIG. 35, the head M16 may include a translucent face andmay include a luminant therein for expressing emotion. The luminantincludes a plurality of color light sources, and may emit differentcolor lights for different situations. For example, the light sourcesmay be disposed at the eyes, the cheeks, and the forehead. The eyes ofthe head M16 may be sky blue in a normal situation. The cheeks maybecome red when expressing pleasure, and the forehead may become deepblue when expressing sorrow. When expressing anger, the eyes may becomeorange, and the forehead may become red.

Referring to FIG. 36, the gaming machine M1 further include a pluralityof information acquiring units MIA1, MIA2, MIA3 that acquires variousexternal information such as voice, posture, motion, facial expression,etc. The gaming machine M1 further includes a conversation server MCS,and a controller M6, and the information acquiring units MIA1, MIA2,MIA3, the conversation server MCS, and the controller M6 are connectedto a hub HUB. The gaming machine M1 further includes a monitor MSCshowing the situation or the status of the players, the image of thegame area, 3D simulator, etc. The monitor MSC is connected to thecontroller M6.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the information acquiringunits MIA1, MIA2, MIA3 may include at least one of an overview (or kite)camera set MC1, a game area camera set MC2, and a plurality of playercamera sets MC3.

The overview camera set MC1 may be disposed over the game dealer deviceM10, and may take pictures of the station area (FIG. 39). The overviewcamera set MC1 reads and interprets the image to determine the number,the positions, and the behaviors of the guests. The overview camera setMC1 captures and sends the application images to the controller M6. Theoverview camera set MC1 may include an RGB camera MC11 and an ultra-redcamera MC12.

The game area camera set MC2 may be disposed at the forehead of the gamedealer device M10, and may take pictures of a game area, for example, aroulette table. The game area camera set MC2 may include an RGB cameraMC21 and an ultra-red camera MC22.

The player camera set MC3 may be disposed at the player station withfacing the player, and may take pictures of the face of the player (FIG.41). The player camera set MC3 reads and interprets the image todetermine the emotion, the gender, the conversation of the player. Theplayer camera set MC3 captures and sends the application images to thecontroller M6. The player camera set MC3 may include an RGB camera MC31and an ultra-red camera MC32.

The information acquiring unit MIA3 may further include a microphoneacquiring voices disposed at each station and acquiring voices of theplayer. The microphone recognizes voice and converts the voice intotexts to be sent.

The gaming machine may further include a speaker unit including adigital amplifier amplifying a voice signal and a speaker 512 convertingthe voice signal into sound.

The controller M6 may acquires player information based on the picturesof the players taken by the camera sets MC1, MC2, MC3 and the voices ofthe players taken by the microphone, and may output the acquired playerinformation to the monitor and the dealer device M10.

The controller M6 is configured to communicate with the dealer device inserial communication and to control the motions of the arms M12 and M13and the body M11.

The controller M6 is connected to an I/O box (not shown) including aninput and an output. The I/O box is connected to an air compressor (notshown) including an air control valve, etc. The air compressor isconnected to the holder M18 of the handling part M15 through an air pipeM182, and is configured to inhale air. The controller M6 controls theair control vale of the air compressor to operate the holder M18 at aproper time. In detail, the handling part M15 approaches to the gameobject (roulette ball) M2 after the game object M2 stops, and the holderM18 contacts the game object M2. Thereafter, the air compressor inhalesthe air through the air pipe to attach the game object M2 to the holderM18.

Now, an operation of the gaming machine is described with reference toFIG. 42 to FIG. 46.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the controller M6performs situation determination, conversation mode, motiondetermination, 3D simulation, and play as shown in FIG. 42.

Referring to FIG. 43, during the situation determination, the controllerM6 determines a situation of an object from the pictures taken by thecamera unit. In detail, the controller M6 determines a guest type fromthe pictures taken by the overview camera set MC1. For example, thenumber and the positions of the guest are determined by analyzing thepictures taken by the RGB camera MC11 and using the ultra-red cameraMC12, and the conversation partner of the guest is determined byanalyzing the pictures taken by the RGB camera MC11 and considering thedirection of a microphone.

Thereafter, the controller M6 determines the situation of the objectbased on the action history. For example, the motion of the guest may beanalyzed step by step. The controller determines whether the guestwalks, stops in front of the dealer device, approaches, looks at, andtalks, etc., and then determines the situation of the guest.

The controller M6 may also determine the situation from the picturestaken by the player camera set MC3. For example, the controller M6determines the emotional condition of the player based on the facialexpression determined by interpreting the pictures from the RGB cameraMC21, the body temperature by analyzing the ultra-red pictures from theultra-red camera MC22, and the reaction by analyzing picture statuschange.

The controller M6 may further determine the situation from the picturestaken by the game area camera set MC2.

The controller M6 also determines the situation of the object from soundor voice input to the microphone. The voice input may be converted intotexts.

The controller M6 may determine the game status of the player, forexample, win or loss, the number of successive wins or losses, and soon.

The controller M6 may determine the voice target, and may determine apriority action. When determining the priority action, the screen may bechanged to include AUDIT as shown in FIG. 44.

Referring to FIG. 45, in the conversation mode, the controller M6 maydetermine a type of the conversation mode. The type may include freetalk, game talk, and talking about information. The controller M6 mayanalyze the text and optimize voice for the conversation mode.Thereafter, the controller M6 may search for conversation using aconversation database, and determines the type of emotion. Subsequently,the controller M6 synthesizes voice and writes and interprets voicedata. Finally, the controller M6 makes voice, that is, speaks.

In the motion determination shown in FIG. 46, the controller M6determines an action of the game dealer device or robot M10. Thecontroller M6 may determine the movement of the robot M10 by analyzingthe voice data and determining the motion. The controller M6 may alignthe eyes of the robot M10 with the player, the game area, or otherobject. Then the controller M6 may synthesize the motion considering themotion collision, writes the motion, and builds the motion. Thecontroller M6 may allocate the player, receive the motion and make therobot M10 play the motion.

The voice data may be synthesized with the motion in the conversationmode.

While this invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be practical embodiments, it is to be understoodthat the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, onthe contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalentarrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims.

The above embodiments thus described solely serves as specific examplesof the present invention, and the present invention is not limited tosuch examples. Specific configurations of various means may be suitablydesigned or modified. Further, the effects of the present inventiondescribed in the above embodiments are not more than examples of mostpreferable effects achievable by the present invention. The effects ofthe present invention are not limited to those described in theembodiments described above.

Further, the detailed description above is mainly focused oncharacteristics of the present invention to fore the sake of easierunderstanding. The present invention is not limited to the aboveembodiments, and is applicable to diversity of other embodiments.Further, the terms and phraseology used in the present specification areadopted solely to provide specific illustration of the presentinvention, and in no case should the scope of the present invention belimited by such terms and phraseology. Further, it will be obvious forthose skilled in the art that the other structures, systems, methods orthe like are possible, within the spirit of the present inventiondescribed in this specification. The description of claims thereforeshall encompass structures equivalent to the present invention, unlessotherwise such structures are regarded as to depart from the spirit andscope of the present invention. Further, the abstract is provided toallow, through a simple investigation, quick analysis of the technicalfeatures and essences of the present invention by an intellectualproperty office, a general public institution, or one skilled in the artwho is not fully familiarized with patent and legal or professionalterminology. It is therefore not an intention of the abstract to limitthe scope of the present invention which shall be construed on the basisof the description of the claims. To fully understand the object andeffects of the present invention, it is strongly encouraged tosufficiently refer to disclosures of documents already made available.

The detailed description of the present invention provided hereinaboveincludes a process executed on a computer. The above descriptions andexpressions are provided to allow the one skilled in the art to mostefficiently understand the present invention. A process performed in orby respective steps yielding one result or blocks with a predeterminedprocessing function described in the present specification shall beunderstood as a process with no self-contradiction. Further, theelectrical or magnetic signal is transmitted/received and written in therespective steps or blocks. It should be noted that such a signal isexpressed in the form of bit, value, symbol, text, terms, number, or thelike solely for the sake of convenience. Although the presentspecification occasionally personifies the processes carried out in thesteps or blocks, these processes are essentially executed by variousdevices. Further, the other structures necessary for the steps or blocksare obvious from the above descriptions.

LABELS DECLARATION

-   1 gaming machine-   2 robotic dealer-   3 roulette device-   4A-4C terminal devices-   5 utterance recognition device-   5A, 5B player analyzing devices-   6 safety camera recognition device-   7 overlooking camera recognition device-   8 CAIWA server-   9 management device-   61 safety information acquiring device-   62 roulette state camera unit-   71 overlooking information acquiring device

What is claimed is:
 1. A gaming machine, comprising: a roulette wheelcausing a roulette ball to contact a guiding wall and perform a circlingmotion under the action of a centrifugal force, and then the rouletteball drops toward a central part when the centrifugal force weakens andis stopped at a certain pocket; a delivering device delivering theroulette ball and causing the roulette ball to perform a circling motionin the roulette wheel; and a roulette ball holding device including aholding component which is used to hold the roulette ball removably at adelivering position, and the delivering position is a position where theroulette ball is delivered by the delivering device.
 2. The gamingmachine according to the claim 1, wherein, the holding component of theroulette ball holding device is configured not to contact the rouletteball which performs a circling motion along the guiding wall.
 3. Thegaming machine according to the claim 1, wherein, the holding componentof the roulette ball holding device comprising: a holding part which isused to hold the roulette ball; and a guiding part which is used toguide the roulette ball which moves in a center part direction of theroulette wheel to a direction of the holding part.
 4. The gaming machineaccording to the claim 3, wherein, the delivering device is configuredto cause a compressed air to reflow along a wall surface of the roulettewheel; the holding component comprises a protruding part, and comparingwith the holding part, the protruding part is configured at a downstreamside of the circling motion direction of the roulette ball and protrudestoward the wall surface of the roulette wheel.
 5. The gaming machineaccording to the claim 1, wherein the roulette ball holding devicecomprising a retreat device, and the retreat device causes the holdingcomponent to retreat from a holding position during a process of theroulette ball performing a circling motion along the guiding wall.
 6. Agaming machine, comprising: a roulette table, wherein causing theroulette ball to rotate by a spinning rail and then drop and stop at oneof a plurality of slots; and a holding device is disposed at peripheryof the spinning rail, holding the roulette ball at a knocking-outposition.